WARSAW, Poland — The leaders of five key European NATO members envision joint military drills in 2026, while advancing their defense industries’ cooperation with Ukraine, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced today.
The European defense boost – spearheaded by Poland, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, collectively dubbed the E5 – comes in anticipation of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Analysts expect Trump to pursue a less pronounced trans-Atlantic agenda than the outgoing president, Joe Biden.
Defense ministers of the five-nation group met here today, with their Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, participating via teleconference.
The talk of joint military exercises among Europeans suggests the countries are envisioning some drills without logistics and command-and-control support often provided for such events by the most powerful NATO member, the United States.
“E5 is a format which complements our relations within NATO and the EU. We are here today to coordinate our actions for defense, but also to coordinate our support to Ukraine,” Kosiniak-Kamysz was quoted in a statement released by his ministry. “I think that, in 2026, joint drills, of course with the alliance’s major role, because nothing will take place without it, will take place.”
The previous meeting took place in Germany’s capital Berlin on Nov. 25, 2024. The E5 nations are to further discuss their training plans at the next event which is to be held in Paris, the Polish official said.
“We must take on more responsibilities, sharing concrete vision and commitments, both in the strictly military field and in the industrial and technological sector of defense,” Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto commented in a statement released by his ministry.
In his remarks, Kosiniak-Kamysz suggested the five nations will throw their weight behind ongoing efforts to keep the international Ukraine Defense Contact Group running after Trump assumes the U.S. presidency.
“In our talks with the Ukrainian Minister of Defense … we discussed the topic of support, but also the issues of developing the [defense] production capacities between Europe and Ukraine,” the Polish minister said.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the UDCG — a gathering of 50 countries supporting Kyiv — has convened 25 times.
Following the Ramstein meeting held just four days before the E5 event in Warsaw, Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said while he does not want to speculate on the new U.S. administration’s policies, “the best solution would, in any case, be to continue the format.”
At the same time, the involved allies “think about options and alternatives,” Pistorius said.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.
