President appoints two top military commanders after predecessors resign

2023-10-10 19:03 update: 2023-10-12, 19:10
Fot. PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Fot. PAP/Radek Pietruszka
President Andrzej Duda has appointed the chief of the general staff and the operational commander of the Polish Armed Forces after he accepted the resignations of their predecessors.

Gen. Wieslaw Kukula was appointed chief of the general staff of the Polish Armed Forces, and Gen. Maciej Klisz the forces' operational commander at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.

Gen. Kukula had earlier been released from the post of the general commander of the Armed Forces, and Gen. Klisz from the post of Territorial Defence Force commander.

Their predecessors, whose resignations the president had accepted earlier, namely, Gen. Rajmund Andrzejczak, the chief of the General Staff, and Gen. Tomasz Piotrowski, the operational commander, handed in their notices on Monday.

Jacek Siewiera, the head of Poland's National Security Bureau (BBN), told a press conference preceding the appointments that the generals' resignations were on the agenda of Tuesday's meeting between the president, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and government officials. 

He added that for both the president and the BBN it is absolutely crucial to maintain the continuity of command and the efficiency of operations, such as the evacuation of Poles from Israel, which is now underway. 

"This operation is coordinated by the General Command, so its continuity is not threatened in any way," Siewiera said.

He added that the operations of all troops will continue under new leadership, "because today there will be personnel changes in the most important command positions of the Polish Army." (PAP)

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