The Norwegian army has been building up a training camp in eastern Poland, aimed at helping Ukrainian soldiers to defend themselves from Russian attacks. The work began before Russian drones started flying into Poland last week, which prompted the Norwegian government to call Russia’s ambassador in on the carpet in Oslo this week.
A Norwegian soldier works on building a mess tent at the new military training camp for Ukrainian soldiers. PHOTO: Torbjørn Kjosvold/Forsvaret
It’s all part of ever-rising tensions between NATO allies like Norway and Russia, which first invaded Ukraine in February 2022 but failed to conquer its neighbour. Nearly four years later, Russia still hasn’t won its war on Ukraine. European resolve to support Ukraine remains strong, especially among other countries that share a border with Russia as Norway does.
That’s what led to the creation of what the Norwegians call Camp Jomsborg in eastern Poland, close to its border with Belarus. The work began quietly at a secret location, but photos taken by Norway’s defense department suddenly showed up on the department’s official website. On Monday, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) published its own coverage of what it called a “mega-operation” in Poland, set up to train Ukrainian soldiers who’ll be sent (or return) to the front lines in their embattled homeland.
It’s the first time Norway is leading an international operation of this kind, which also aims to better prepare Norway and its own soldiers for war. The exercises are intense and realistic, with drones and artillery playing an important role. “They’re at war,” one of the instructors told NRK, referring to the Ukrainians. “We try to create the types of close battles and exchange of gunfire they experience on a daily basis … following the principle of ‘train as you fight.’” The biggest goal is to help the Ukrainian soldiers survive on the battlefront.
It’s perhaps not surprising that a fierce Viking logo adorns the sign set up at Norway’s Camp Jomsborg in eastern Poland. Its exact location hasn’t been publicly revealed for security reasons. PHOTO: Torbjørn Kjosvold / Forsvaret
Camp Jomsborg is the biggest Norwegian military camp set up abroad ever. Norway has run camps in Afghanistan and other war-torn countries, but with war in Europe, it’s so much closer to home and brings the new Russian threat closer to home, too.
On Monday Norway’s foreign ministry called in the Russian ambassador in Oslo for what it called a “conversation” following the discovery of Russian drones over Poland. Norway has joined the international outcry over Russia’s violations of Polish airspace during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, 9-10 September.
Norwegian officials made it clear that such violations represented “irresponsible and unacceptable” actions by the Russians. Norway made it clear to Russian Ambassador Nikolay Korchunov that both it and its allies have expressed their full support for Poland.
The Norwegian military training camp includes housing, medical facilities and vast areas where trenches have been dug for training purposes, in addition to the training that goes on in the forests around the camp. PHOTO: Forsvaret/Torbjørn Kjosvold
The Russians acknowledged how Norway protested against the “alleged violation of Polish airspace on September 10 in connection with Russian attacks on military targets in Ukraine.” They rejected the charges, however, referring to reports from Russia’s own foreign- and defense ministries which “pointed out that the Russian defense ministry hadn’t planned to attack any objects on Polish territory.”
The Russian Embassy in Oslo further expressed “concern for the extensive support Oslo is giving to Kiev as part of the ‘drone coalition.’ We stressed that the drones Norway has delivered are used by Ukraine to attack civilian targets and civilian infrastructure in Russian territory, including energy plants that deliver oil and gas to the EU countries and the global energy market.”
Russia went on to launch its own military training exercises along with Belarus not far from borders to several NATO countries. They’re called Zapad-2025, with Oslo newspaper Dagsavisen noting that since zapad translates to “west,” the name of the exercises “indicates clearly who the exercises are directed at: The West. Us. They’re taking place in Belarus, not far from the border to Poland, in the Baltic- and Barents Seas and in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.”
Norwegian soldiers have dug trenches near the new training camp for Ukrainian soldiers. PHOTO: Torbjørn Kjosvold/Forsvaret
Most Norwegian officials reject the Russians’ explanation that their drones that fell or were shot down over Poland had simply gone astray, and were instead aimed at the western region of Ukraine. NATO has also rejected that, calling the drones a “planned provocation” by the Russians to test NATO’s preparedness.
“The Russians are testing all of Europe, the EU and NATO,” editorialized Dagsavisen last weekend. “The Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has said we are now in a situation that comes the closest to armed conflict since World War II. That’s unfortunately a correct evaluation.” It was shared by Jakub M Godzimirski, a researcher at the foreign policy institute PRIO in Oslo. He told Dagsavisen that he initially thought the Russians had simply misfired, “but when we see that it involved 19 drones, we have a better understanding that this was a planned operation.”
He predicts it will bring European countries including Norway even closer together than they already are in NATO. Even the government in Hungary, which has remained among the most Russian-friendly under its prime minister Viktor Orban, called the Russian drone strike on Poland “unacceptable.”
Officers and soldiers at the new Camp Jomsborg, meanwhile, told NRK that the training and instruction “goes both ways,” with Ukrainian instructors also offering their Norwegian colleagues important insight into the challenges they meet and the trends they see on the front lines. “We’re kind of like a training camp ourselves, testing out all kinds of weapons systems,” one Ukrainian soldier who called himself “Darius” told NRK.
There are now several hundred Norwegian soldiers in Poland, also at other locations where they’re running ground-to-air missile defense systems along the border. “It’s so important that all countries do everything they can to support Ukraine,” said Atle Molde, chief of Operation Legio that involves the camp and donations of weapons and other defense material to Ukraine. “They are in a dramatic situation.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
