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What did Poland's Afghan exit and Sea Breeze signal?
Summary
Two security developments on 28 and 30 June 2021 pointed to different theatres: a Black Sea exercise and the end of a long deployment.
What did the security picture look like on 30 June 2021? On that date the last Polish troops left Afghanistan, ending Poland's involvement in the war there. Around 33,000 Polish troops had served in Afghanistan over the course of the conflict, and 44 were killed in action.
Two days earlier, on 28 June 2021, the Sea Breeze military exercises began in the Black Sea. They were reported as the largest in the history of the exercise.
Two theatres, one date range
The two items sit far apart geographically. One closed a deployment that had drawn tens of thousands of Polish personnel through the years. The other opened a major exercise on Ukraine's maritime doorstep.
For readers in Kyiv and across the region, the juxtaposition is worth noting: a NATO member was concluding a long overseas commitment at the very time a record-scale exercise was under way in the Black Sea.
