For five months, the north of the Kyiv region was controlled by Polish police
On February 23, Polish President Andrzej Duda presented state awards to almost a hundred Polish police officers who had been on a secret mission in Ukraine for almost five months.
The main goal of the Poles was to clear the mines in the northern part of the Kyiv region, but among them there were not only sappers, but also special forces who provided security for the mission, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The secret mission of Polish police on the night of February 23 was reported by the Wirtualna Polska portal. According to its journalists, the mission began after Kyiv’s appeal last year to the ATLAS organization, a police task force uniting special anti-terrorist units of EU countries.
The request concerned the sending of pyrotechnicians to Ukraine to clear mines from areas from which Russian troops had retreated, and to which it was impossible for civilians to return because the areas were mined or dangerous due to other signs of fighting.
“The Ukrainian army did not have enough sappers to solve this problem. Military sappers from NATO countries could not do this either, because this could be perceived by Russia as a provocation. The only option was to send police bomb squads. But of all the members of the ATLAS group, only Poland responded to the call of the Ukrainians. Other countries decided that a mission in a war-torn country was too dangerous,” the publication notes.
In the summer of 2022, by decision of the Polish Minister of Internal Affairs, a Humanitarian Police Contingent was created, consisting of officers from individual counter-terrorism units. Only volunteers went to Ukraine. Sappers, paramedics, who were supposed to ensure their work, and special forces, whose task was to protect members of the Polish mission, could apply.
After training, clarification of logistical details and agreements with the Ukrainian side, a contingent of 98 people left Poland in early October. The group also took with them two dogs trained to detect explosives.
Polish police officers were stationed in the Kyiv region. The mission was initially expected to last three months, but was extended by another two in December.
Sappers cleared mines at the Gostomel airfield, battle sites on the Dnieper, neutralized grenades, rockets, ammunition and abandoned weapons, etc. The humanitarian contingent of the Polish police checked more than 342 thousand square meters of territory and more than 17,5 kilometers of roads. In total, the Poles neutralized more than 2 thousand dangerous objects, including anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.
During almost five months of service, none of the Polish policemen were injured. In recent weeks, the Police Headquarters decided to end the mission. This was influenced, among other things, by intelligence data about the planned Russian offensive. On Wednesday, February 22, all members of the Polish contingent returned safely to Poland, the Wirtualna Polska portal reported.
Thus, it becomes clear why the Chief of the Polish Police, Jaroslaw Szymczyk, came to Kyiv in December 2022. In addition, it is clear why Szymczyk was not punished for shooting in his office with a grenade launcher donated by his Ukrainian colleagues - the general simply knows too much.
It is also worth noting that the Polish police have not worked this far into Ukraine since the Kyiv Campaign of Józef Pilsudski in the spring of 1920.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, a “gift from Ukraine” exploded in the building of the Polish Police Headquarters, as a result, the Chief of Police of Poland, General Jaroslaw Szymczyk, was hospitalized.
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