Polish-Ukrainian Peacekeeping Battalion POLUKRBAT
The 1990s saw Poland and Ukraine draw closer to each other, the logical effect of which was for Poland to acknowledge Ukraine as a strategic partner. This, in combination with Ukraine's accession to the Partnership for Peace program, led to more active military cooperation between the two countries. This led to the idea of creating the Polish-Ukrainian Peacekeeping Battalion. The idea was born Oct. 5, 1995, during a meeting between the Polish and Ukrainian ministers of defense. Forming the battalion began three years later. It was preceded by the first joint exercises of Polish and Ukrainian soldiers, which took place in June 1996 in Poland and in July 1996 in Ukraine.
POLUKRBAT (abbreviated name of the unit) consists of the Polish section, separated from the 21st Podhale Rifle Brigade, and the Ukrainian section, which is the 208th Independent Special Battalion, subordinated directly to the Headquarters of the Western Operational Territory of Ukraine. The final integration of both sides of the Polish-Ukrainian Peacekeeping Battalion took place March 31, 1998. Its patrons were hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, and Pyotr Kanashevich Sahaidachny-two great leaders of their nations. The joint unit achieved operational readiness in early 1999. The most important posts in the battalion are filled on a rotating basis.
The Polish-Ukrainian Peacekeeping Battalion has 754 soldiers, including 250 professional soldiers and 504 enlisted men. The Polish side has 391 troops (40 officers, 28 warrant officers, 54 NCOs and 269 privates). The official language during exercises is English. Poland and Ukraine have received considerable help from the governments of Canada and the United States in terms of learning the language. According to agreements signed by the governments of Poland and Ukraine, the battalion can be used in international missions mandated by the UN Security Council or other organizations responsible for maintaining peace and international security, in compliance with Chapter 8 of the UN Charter. It can also be used as part of international forces formed with the consent of the UN Security Council. The battalion is supposed to attain readiness for such actions within 30 days of receiving a request from the UN.
The Polish-Ukrainian Battalion moved relatively fast from joint exercises to actual service outside the borders of the two countries. Since July 1999, Polish and Ukrainian troops have been performing tasks as part of KFOR in Kosovo. The battalion executing the mission consists of 545 Polish and 267 Ukrainian troops. During the mission in Kosovo, a platoon of Lithuanian soldiers was included in the battalion. The POLUKRBAT command in Kosovo is located in the town of Kacanik, at the "White Eagle" base.
POLUKRBAT's responsibilities include providing security for people living in the zone covered by the unit, and for members of humanitarian organizations, cooperation with the High Commissioner for Refugees, protection of the most important facilities, border crossings, roads, bridges, overpasses, and constant patrolling of the zone.
Col. Bogdan Tworkowski, who commanded the battalion in 2001, characterized POLUKRBAT's activities in Kosovo as: "One of our tasks is to protect border crossings with Macedonia; there are two such crossings in our zone. We also have to counteract the illegal crossing of the Kosovo-Macedonia border. We hold regular patrols, permanent border observation points, and checkpoints where we search people and cars for illegal weapons. Both the soldiers and the staff of the Polish-Ukrainian Peacekeeping Battalion stress that cooperation between Poles and Ukrainians in Kosovo is exceptionally good. There is no doubt that POLUKRBAT, the first multinational unit with the participation of the Polish Armed Forces used in an actual peacekeeping operation, has been a success. To an extent, this testifies to the success of the idea of building multinational forces in this part of Europe.
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