Lithuanian–Polish–Ukrainian Brigade "TLATAS" (LITPOLUKRBRIG; ; ; ) is a multinational brigade countries of the Lublin Triangle consisting of units from the Lithuanian,

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

and Ukrainian armies. Other countries are free to join the trilateral agreement. An agreement on its creation was signed on November 16, 2009. The brigade was to reach operational status in autumn 2011,Combined Ukrainian-Polish-Lithuanian brigade could appear in autumn

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden. In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...

(13 May 2011) but it was delayed; a January 2012 estimate put that date at some time in 2013. The unit was finally formed on September 19, 2014. In July 2015 the defense ministers of the three countries signed an agreement on the operation of the unit. The LITPOLUKRBRIG headquarters (HQ) was opened in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

(Poland) on 25 January 2016.Coordination Group discusses LitPolUkrBrig participation in military exercises

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

(1 April 2016)

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

are NATO members, while

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

is an Enhanced Opportunity Partner of NATO.

Name

It was named after

hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

Konstanty Ostrogski Konstanty Iwanowicz Ostrogski ( – 10 August 1530) was a Ruthenian prince and magnate of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He later had the title of grand hetman of Lithuania from 11 September 1497 until his death in 1530. Career Ostrogski began ...

in 2017.

History

On June 14, 2007, during an EU Defence Ministers' meeting, Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian ministers agreed to create a multinational unit. Robert Rochowicz
List intencyjny w sprawie LITPOLUKRBRIG podpisany
Polska Zbrojna, 16.11.2009 In fall of 2008 the proposed unit type was specified as a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...

. The three countries did have experience in past joint military operations, most notably, through the Lithuanian-Polish Peace Force Battalion and the Polish–Ukrainian Peace Force Battalion.

and

are NATO members,

is currently not but requested to join the NATO Membership Action Plan in January 2008.Ukraine asks to join NATO membership action plan

UNIAN The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...

(January 16, 2008) In November 2009 a "Protocol of Intent" covering formation of a joint Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian brigade ("LITPOLUKRBRIG") was signed by Defense Minister of Lithuania, Rasa Jukneviciene, Deputy Secretary of the Polish Ministry of Defense Stanisław Komorowski (representing the indisposed Defense Minister of Poland, Bogdan Klich) and acting Defense Minister of Ukraine Valeriy Ivashchenko. Marcin Wojciechowski
Wspólna brygada Polski, Litwy i Ukrainy
Gazeta Wyborcza, 2009-11-16 On March 17, 2014, ''The Daily Telegraph'' reported, as part of its live coverage of the

annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

, that Poland's defence ministry had announced it was re-launching plans to establish a joint Polish, Ukrainian and Lithuanian military brigade. The ministry said "defence ministers would meet later that week to discuss the formation of the brigade that would straddle Nato’s eastern border and bring Ukraine’s armed forces closer to the Western fold". In February 2016, the brigade participated in the training exercise "Brave Band".

Organization

The brigade has its headquarters and staff in

, Poland, with the national components stationed in their respective countries and actually gathering together only for exercises and foreign missions. Only its staff officers are supposed to cooperate on a regular basis.Polsko-litewsko-ukraińska brygada do misji pokojowych

Gazeta Wyborcza (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish nationwide daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), t ...

(November 16, 2009) The unit is intended to be used to fulfill tasks given to it by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

.Poland, Lithuania eye military tie-up with Ukraine

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(November 17, 2009) The operating language of the brigade is agreed to be English. The unit was formed on 19 September 2014. Headquarters was officially opened in Lublin on 25 January 2016, in a ceremony attended by defence ministers of the three countries. Each member deploys an infantry battalion, special operations personnel, and headquarters staff to the alliance. The bulk of the deployments are the Lithuanian Grand Duchess Birute Uhlan Battalion, Poland's 3rd Mechanized Battalion(whose parent organization is the 19th Mechanized Brigade), and the Ukrainian 1st Air Assault Battalion of the 80th Airborne Brigade.

Political ramifications

The agreement between Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine was signed two days before an EU summit with Russia aimed at increasing cooperation between the two. Analysts expected the formation of the brigade could anger Russia, because Russia is against Ukraine joining NATO. A NATO spokesman welcomed the Polish-Lithuanian plan, stating that cooperation may increase trust and capabilities. According to Poland's Deputy Defence Minister Stanisław Komorowski "This move reflects our support for Ukraine. We want to tie Ukraine closer to

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

structures, including military ones". In November 2009 Polish newspaper ''

'' predicted the chances that the brigade would become a reality were larger if

Yulia Tymoshenko Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( Hrihyan born 27 November 1960) is a Ukrainian politician, who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2005, and again from 2007 until 2010; the first and only woman in Ukraine to hold that position. She has been ...

would win the

2010 Ukrainian presidential election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

, and smaller if

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

would win them. Yanukovych won the elections, but preparations for the brigade continued. Yanukovych stated on May 27, 2010 that Ukraine considered Ukraine's relations with NATO as a partnership, "And Ukraine can't live without this artnership because Ukraine is a large country".Yanukovych: Ukraine currently not ready to join NATO

(May 27, 2010) Despite initial concerns that the LITPOLUKRBRIG provoked Russia, since 2016 the "Trilateral Brigade" (this term is used by the US military to identify the unit) has continued operating out of Lublin and pursued its "four main missions of international cooperation: executing and participating in battle staff training, battalion staff officer courses, multinational exercises, and activities of the Joint Military Training Group–Ukraine." Even with the 2022

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, the Trilateral Brigade HQ is staffed by a blend of army personnel: 5 Lithuanians, 58 Poles, and 18 Ukrainians. This HQ can plan, organize, command, and control approximately 4,500 LITPOLUKR troops for international military operations. Finally, the success of the Trilateral Brigade has led two researchers - Lt Col Jahara Matisek (US Naval War College) and Prof. Will Reno (Northwestern University) - to contend in 2022 that this unit provides a comparative advantage and flexible options against Russia, and is a model for future security cooperation between NATO and non-NATO militaries. At the start of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

in 2022, the brigade started working in refuge camps and in and around the Polish-Ukrainian border to aid the Ukrainian soldiers family as well as aiding many others with homes and supplies. Meanwhile, American–Polish military cooperation strengthened in the form of joint training with the

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into hostile areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

on 1 April 2022. At around this period of time, fake news spread of several brigades including the LITPOLUKRBRIG being sent to Southern Ukraine to fight on the Kherson front consisting of 9,500 men and 279 pieces of equipment. On the same day, the LITPOLUKRBRIG

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account made an official statement that the alleged paper stating that Poland would send soldiers over to fight was not true.

References

External links