A new joint Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian brigade has reached full operational capability, the defence24.pl website has reported.

The brigade passed a certification exercise in December, the website added.

Lt. Col. Eligijus Senulis, Chief of Staff of the unit, known as LITPOLUKRBRIG, was cited by the website as saying the brigade’s combat readiness was tested in the Common Challenge-16 multinational exercises in south-east Poland.

“This was so far the most important undertaking for the Multinational Brigade,” he said.

“Together with battalions from Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania, we practiced capabilities to command affiliated units during peacekeeping operations, in an international operating environment.”

Captain Oleksandr Gain, public information officer for the brigade, told Radio Poland last year that the brigade, based in Lublin, eastern Poland, groups about 4,000 troops.

He added that the brigade was formed to conduct peace-support and crisis-response operations, but could be used for “multiple means of military operations.”

Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said last January that the unit would take part in UN peacekeeping missions.

But in an apparent reference to Russia, Poland’s giant neighbour to the east, he added the brigade “is a very clear signal to anyone who would want to disturb peace in Europe.”

The defence ministers of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine decided to form the joint unit in 2007. A year later it was decided the unit should be bigger than initially planned.

An agreement on creating the brigade was repeatedly postponed. It was finally signed in Warsaw in September 2014. (pk)