Polish Special Forces are Secretly Fighting Russia

Gunfire erupts across Russia's border.

Armored vehicles smash through the

frontier from Ukraine into Russia's

state of Belgarod as a force of

Polish-speaking commandos storm into

Russian villages. The attackers are

members of the Polish Volunteer Corps or

PDK, which are a volunteer formation

fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.

Among its ranks are veterans of Poland's

special operations personnel with

reports that some previously served in

elite units like Grom, which is like

Poland's version of Delta Force or the

UK's SAS, except their name literally

means thunder in Polish. So they

definitely have some BDE energy. They

were the first to invade into Russia

into Belgar in a series of attacks in

2023, over a year before the Kursk

operation made it the popular thing to

do. And these trends setter operations

are set to enter a news phase as

Poland's government recently made it

official. It's legal for Polish citizens

to fight in the Ukrainian armed forces.

Officially, their volunteer is acting on

their own. Unofficially though, they're

bringing decades of special operations

experience and skills to help defend

Ukraine's sovereignty against the

Russian invasion. And that's only one

front in a much larger shadow war.

Across Poland, railway lines carrying

weapons to Ukraine are being sabotaged

by Russian agents. Intelligence agencies

race to stop confirmed bomb plots and

assassination attempts. In the Baltic

Sea, critical communication cables are

mysteriously being severed by Russian

operatives. Russia and Poland are

already fighting each other in a low-key

fight, if we need to translate it into

millennial talk. But this deniable

covert operations are designed to stay

just below the threshold of open war. At

the center of Poland's response is Grom,

GR, one of the most respected special

operations units in the world. Their

operators helped shape a generation of

Polish commandos, and their tactics have

become the blueprint for the volunteers

now taking the fight to Russia. Today,

I'm taking you inside this secretive

unit and explaining why the shadow war

between Poland and Russia is becoming

one of the most dangerous conflicts in

Europe, leading to Polish commandos

seizing those villages in Russia. Have

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army. Now, back to the episode. The

Polish Grom are descendants of one of

the craziest units in all of history,

the silent, unseen Polish paratroopers

trained by British special forces in

World War II that actually air dropped

into occupied Poland and waged guerilla

war against the Nazis. These guys were

the real life and glorious bastards.

After World War II, the Soviet Union

turned Poland into a communist country.

So, no more training from the British.

That was until 1989 when communism fell

in Poland and the country wanted to be

buddies with the West again. At this

time, terrorism was on the rise and lots

of countries were setting up elite units

that specialized in hostage rescue. So,

the US and the UK were all too keen to

help their new friends in Poland set up

one of these units. and Grom was founded

in 1990 to explicitly mirror Delta Force

and SAS. The first cohort of Polish

commandos were even trained in the

United States and the structure of the

unit is modeled on the British SAS.

Since these guys are trained by the best

in the world, their standards reflect

that. And looking at how they train,

it's easy to understand why these were

some of the first guys who hard charged

into Russia. The selection and training

is absolutely brutal. They go through

one of the toughest survival evasion

resistance and escape schools in the

whole world. Spending days experiencing

extreme fatigue and enduring long

periods without food or water. All while

being pepper-sprayed, dazed, and thrown

into freezing water. A sadist idea of a

perfect night. Or is that masochist? I

can't remember which it is. I get them

mixed up. But in between all of that,

they spend hours training on

marksmanship, fundamentals, and

answering non-stop questions that are

designed to test their mental acuity

under insane levels of stress. Doctors

are at their sides at all times to pull

any candidates out that are experiencing

malnutrition and are those that are at

risk of permanent injury. So only about

10% of Polish candidates make it

through. That's a serious dropout rate.

Once they're selected, the elite best of

the best Grom commandos undergo a

training course lasting several more

months on everything from high altitude

combat to parachute jumps and diving,

giving them a capability to enter combat

zones in almost any way imaginable. They

set up elaborate hostage rescue

exercises using commercial planes,

buses, and trains, and they practice

raiding them hundreds of times over.

Former Delta operator George Hand

described training alongside Polish Grom

and being quote in awe daily of their

ability in a variety of special

operations missions. The Polish Grom

established themselves so quickly that

just a few years after they formed, they

were launching raids into Yugoslavia to

capture Serbian war criminals during

NATO's Operation Allied Force.

Absolutely crazy stuff. But to really

understand why encountering

Polish-speaking commandos in Ukraine is

a Russian soldier's worst nightmare, we

have to talk about how Grom earned its

fierce reputation. The wars in Iraq and

Afghanistan. Poland was the only other

NATO country to follow the United States

and the United Kingdom into Iraq, and it

did so with the Polish Grom. The unit

was immediately assigned a critical

mission alongside US Navy Seals. They

were to secure Iraq's offshore oil

terminals and prevent the Iraqi military

from setting up their own oil

infrastructure on fire like they did

during the first Gulf War. So, these

terminals were massive, nearly a mile

long. They were sprawling mazes like

some kind of Call of Duty map that I'm

pretty sure I played. Not to mention

that they were essentially just giant,

highly flammable bombs that could go off

and cause an ecological disaster. Not

exactly the place that you want to have

a firefight. Luckily, the Polish Grom

and the US SEALs achieved such surprise

on the defenders that the terminals were

captured without firing a single shot.

The operation set the tone for the

Polish Grom special forces. Their close

work with the US and British special

forces throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.

So, the Polish unit's level of skill and

training so closely resembled the Navy

Seals that the two units would trade

personnel freely depending on their

operational needs. In fact, Chris Kyle,

the famous SEAL from American Sniper,

the movie, was once deployed to Iraq to

join a Polish Grom unit and serve as its

navigator. He even had to quickly learn

some basic Polish. In his book, he

describes raiding houses with the Polish

unit and how they operate at the same

levels as the SEALs, saying that they

had quote an excellent reputation in

special operations end quote. and that

the Polish Grom were a lot like seals,

extremely professional at work and very

hardcore parters after hours. They all

had Polish vodka. Fortunately, the Grom

liked to share. End quote. As for the

language barrier, Chris Kyle the sniper

said that what always seemed interesting

to me was how well we communicated

without using words, even on an op.

They'd turn around and wave me up or

back or whatever. If you're a

professional, you don't need to be told

what to do. You read off each other and

react." End quote. When he was

eventually reassigned to a SEAL unit,

Chris Kyle complained about how the Grom

unit were going out on so many more

missions than his SEAL team. He even

made sure to take as many of the Polish

Grom's stun grenades with him as

possible because he preferred them to

what the SEALs had. On their snatch and

grab missions, the Polish Grom were so

fast that American special forces

started to ask how they did it. Drago

Desrian, a SEAL who joined them on some

of their raids, recounts how when they

captured a target on a building's upper

level rather than walk them down the

stairs, the Polish Grom merely tossed

them out the window to some Grom

commandos waiting on the ground level.

They'd throw the target in a Humvey and

be out of there in no time. They were

really earning the Thunder name and

reputation for being brutally effective.

That reputation was so good that

American special forces guys started

asking if they could join their missions

just so that they could say that they'd

been on a Grom raid. Throughout the

wars, Navy Seals said that they learned

just as much from the Polish Grom as the

Grom learned from them. They were

described as an incredibly close group,

closer than family. One key difference

between the SEALs and Groms, though, was

that no one ever knew the Grom operators

real names. They always used pseudonyms.

Plus, they would flex on the Taliban

between raids. Or maybe they were

putting together a spicy calendar. The

Taliban apparently didn't get that

calendar, though, because in 2012, they

ambushed a Grom combat patrol. 80

Taliban fighters, two platoon of

fighters, successfully surrounded just

20 Polish Grom commandos. It was a

situation where any normal unit would

have been in deep trouble. But the

Polish Grom aren't normal. Over 3 hours,

they fought their way out, killing 20 of

the Taliban fighters. Only two of the

Polish commandos were injured. Note to

self, make friends with shirtless guys

speaking Polish in the desert. Poland

isn't sitting back and hoping for the

best. It certainly isn't trusting the

Russian government's declaration that it

means no harm. Can't blame him. Poland

doesn't exactly have a good history of

non-aggression packs with its neighbors.

When the full-scale invasion was

launched back in 2022, Poland was one of

several NATO countries that had special

forces on the ground training Ukrainian

forces northwest of Ke already, the same

area where the infamous 40-m long

Russian convoy was tracked. According to

some reports, while some NATO countries

immediately withdrew their forces, the

Poles went east toward the front line in

Hark and the cities of Dumbbas. what

they did over there. So far, we just

have to guess. Perhaps sightseeing. Back

in Kev, the Ukrainian defense minister

was preparing to meet the Russians on

the border with Bellarus for early

negotiations. He had some big cojones

for flying into the lion's den. And

guess who was providing personal

protection and transport? That's right,

the Polish Grom. It seems the threat was

high enough that someone made the

decision to send in NATO troops to defer

Russia from trying anything. They even

traveled with the Russian oligarch Roman

Abramoswitz who acted as an

intermediary. That meeting of course led

nowhere, but the Polish Grom has

continued to provide close protection

for foreign dignitaries visiting Kev,

including the Polish president's visit

in early 2022. Since those early days,

Poland has been a lot less obvious than

Russia in its covert ops because, you

know, they're they're covert ops. Yet,

as is often the case, reports still leak

out. one Polish officer let slip to a

journalist that they quote worked out a

formula for our presence in Ukraine. We

were simply sent on paid leave.

Politicians pretend not to see this.

This is very similar to the same way

that the Russia little green men were

sent into Crimea, but what it basically

means is that Polish special forces have

been in the country of Ukraine from the

very beginning of the war. And according

to this report, some of these Polish

soldiers made their way into Ukraine on

vacation and joined up with the Polish

Volunteer Corps or the PDK for what

looks like some recreational hunting in

the woods of eastern Ukraine. A Russian

soldier's face when he hears the trees

speaking Polish. By the way, that logo

comes from the Polish Death Hazars back

in 1920, not that other thing. But damn,

yet another Polish unit with a badass

name. We couldn't do any better than

just repeating the color of our our

berets. The PDK became famous when over

the course of several weeks in 2023,

they launched raids from Ukraine into

Russia's Belgrad Oblast alongside

Russian rebel groups. At the time,

Ukraine was preparing for its much hyped

counteroffensive and was stretched thin.

A retired US general speculated that the

Belgar raids were to keep the Russian

military on the backfoot while the

Ukrainians prepared for their

counteroffensive which was launched

shortly after the raids began. For these

raids, the Polish PDK and Russian rebel

groups used Ukrainian tanks and Humvees.

I guess the Ukrainians must have left

the keys in them, even though Humvees

don't need keys. I do it all the time

with my T72 main battle tank, though.

Other than the Polish PDK, which

obviously published this footage of its

raids for everyone to see, and which of

course the Polish government denies ties

to, operations inside Ukraine are

murkier. In 2023, retired US Colonel

Douglas McGregor, who served as the

senior adviser to the Secretary of

Defense in 2020, claimed while being

interviewed that there were 20,000 Poles

fighting in Ukraine in Ukrainian uniform

and 25,500 that had already died

fighting. But McGregor seems to be the

only person to quote these numbers. And

how reputable or credible he is is I'll

leave it up to you. I should mention,

however, that in Discord leaks from

early 2023 when an Air National

Guardsman from America published

classified documents regarding Ukraine

online, Poland was not listed among the

countries that had any special forces in

Ukraine. Also, shout out to that one

Dutch operator being a a one-man army.

Now, if US intelligence was keeping

track of the number of Poles with

special forces experience who were going

on vacation in Ukraine, well, that might

be a different number. Beyond Belgar,

though, there are plenty of Russian

sources alleging Polish mercenaries

fighting from Kursk to Bakmoot to Sumi.

But these stories are hard to

corroborate. Their sources are sometimes

literally an old lady herd Polish and

Ukrainians took her village. Not exactly

what I call credible reporting, but in

2025, the Polish PDK disbanded itself,

saying that its members would continue

to fight in other units. This happened

at the same time as other foreign units,

including the largest, the International

Legion, were being disbanded and

integrated into different Ukrainian

units. That presumably is what prompted

the Polish government to recently

legalize service in the Ukrainian

military. Now, if Polish commandos are

still taking vacations alongside

Ukraine's relaxing and sunny front

lines, they're doing a good job of

keeping it secret. But the two countries

security cooperation is only growing. In

April, they announced that Ukraine would

help Poland build its own drone armada.

They've cooperated on defense and

technology before with Polish companies

like WB Electronics helping the

Ukrainian drone industry. And the Polish

Ukrainian company PKMA

is now preparing to manufacture

Ukraine's Bowden self-propelled howitzer

in Poland. I'm sorry I mispronounced

some of those words. Uh it I I I don't

speak this language, but this new

agreement will take the cooperation to a

new level as Ukrainian drone operators

teach Polish forces how they become one

of the world's leading drone powers. The

Polish Deputy Minister of National

Defense even said Ukraine would be a

good place for Poland to test its own

drones in combat. For context, that

level of aggression is a comment from

the Polish government is extremely

unusual and is definitely a sign that we

are approaching a new phase of this

story. In 2014, Ukraine was plunged into

years of war as Russia backed a

separatist movement in eastern breakaway

provinces. Things eventually settled

down until they didn't. Of course, the

full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine

in 2022 changed the world and in few

places has it had more of a direct

impact as Poland. War with Russia was no

longer a thing of video games. It was a

real possibility for Polish people.

Russian troops marching west again

sparked some PTSD from Poland, which

decided to do everything in its power to

support Ukraine. The two countries

buried their dark and bloody history,

and Poland welcomed over three and a

half million Ukrainian refugees in the

first 3 months after the invasion. While

women and children were heading into

Poland, weapons were flowing the other

direction into Ukraine. For years, NATO

officers and military analysts have

struggled to pronounce this Polish

city's name, which is something like

Jes, but that's probably wrong the way

I'm saying it. Thank god I never had to

learn Polish, but this random Polish

city no one had ever heard of suddenly

became the central artery for Ukrainian

resupply because it was the nearest

major airport to Ukraine. I hope that

the farmers nearby were aviation

enthusiasts and didn't mind this

non-stop stream of C130s and C17s that

were landing there. While these planes

were landing, heavy equipment and

armored vehicles were being moved over

land through Poland and into Ukraine.

Poland itself was one of the main

sources of critically needed armored

vehicles in the first months of the war.

It also provided the bulk of Ukraine's

Starling terminals, which had been

absolutely indispensable to the

Ukrainian armed forces and their ability

to communicate. On top of that, Poland

was a critical rear base for the

Ukrainian military. Tens of thousands of

Ukrainian recruits passed through it to

receive basic training from NATO member

countries. Poland itself has trained

38,000 troops. The ability to pass off

training of its troops to allied

countries was indispensable to relieving

Ukraine's manpower issues. Ukraine's war

effort without the support from Poland

is a very different story. But Poland

isn't just relying on Ukraine to hold

the Russians off. It's preparing for the

worst case scenario. And it's undergoing

one of the largest and quickest military

buildups in modern history. acting like

they stole daddy's credit card and

they're just buying everything from

South Korea and self-propelled artillery

from American and German tanks to

Swedish submarines and tons of their own

kit. But the country operates five

different types of main battle tanks at

this point. God, I I I do not envy

Polish mechanics and their logistics

officers. Poland also pulled out of the

Ottawa Convention that had banned

anti-personnel mines at the beginning of

2026. Its deputy defense minister said,

quote, "These mines are one of the most

important elements of the defense

structure we are currently constructing

on the eastern flank of NATO in Poland,

on the border with Russia in the north

and with Bellarus in the east." Of

course, looking at a map, you'll see

that Poland doesn't actually have a

border with mainland Russia. But here is

where we'll remind everyone that Belarus

is a Russian client state that

essentially serves as a forward military

base now. And there's also the kinugrad

oblast that is technically part of

Russia. Hence Russia using Bellarus to

invade Ukraine four years ago. That's

only the tip of the iceberg though

because while Poland's conventional

forces prepare for large-scale warfare,

its intelligence and special forces are

already fighting a war. It's a hybrid

war where fighting takes the shape of

deniable covert action. essentially

secretly doing stuff that hurts your

enemy but which doesn't meet the

threshold where your enemy can openly

retaliate against you. Russia has been

waging this hybrid war with increasing

intensity. It used the anchors of

fishing ships in the Baltic Sea to cut

communication cables of NATO countries.

In 2024, NATO foiled a plot to

assassinate the CEO of Rhyatl, one of

Europe's largest arms manufacturers that

is absolutely central to European

rearmment. Alleged Russian agents have

been caught making bombs in Parisian

hotels. In Poland, Russia has used

agents on the ground to constantly

sabotage railways being used to send

weapons to Ukraine. In one case, just

last year, explosives were planted on a

train track, but were quote too weak to

blow up the freight train that the

attacker was likely targeting. The

train's driver was unaware of the

initial explosion, but the tracks became

more unstable with every subsequent

train that passed over them until the

level of damage became dangerously

clear. Russian hybrid warfare operations

seem to not only target dualuse

infrastructure, but also civilian

targets. Poland accused Russia of

burning down Warsaw's largest shopping

center in 2024, making bomb threats

against schools, airports, and other

public buildings. Sir Richard Moore, the

chief of MI6, summarized it nicely when

he said, "Russian intelligence services

have gone a bit feral." Frankly, some of

these operations are so nonsensical that

a former head of MI5 put it this way.

They seem to be on an unsustained

mission to generate mayhem on British

and European streets. According to DFR

Lab, Russia's also attempting to sew

anti- Ukrainian sentiment among Polish

farmers who are angry about Ukrainian

grain that is undercutting their market.

And in July 2024, three different fires

broke out at cargo hubs in Germany, the

UK, and Poland. In each case, Western

security officials said that there was

incendiary devices hidden in the cargo

and that Russian military intelligence

was attempting to conduct a practice run

of targeting cargo flights between

Europe and the United States. If blowing

up civilian cargo planes midair isn't

feral, then I don't know what is. For

all the crazy ops I just mentioned,

there's 10 more where suspicion falls on

Russian military intelligence in Poland,

but there's insufficient evidence. They

tend to use non-Russian nationals, often

petty criminals, and the contact between

Russian intelligence and field

operatives takes place between several

middlemen, adding some plausible

deniability. Other times, Russia seems

to abandon all attempts to do things

covertly and blatantly tests resolve,

like when it sent about 20 drones into

Poland in December 2025. Now, this

wasn't the first time Russian drones had

entered Polish airspace or even crashed

in Poland. And in this case, and all

others, they denied doing it

intentionally, but in previous cases, it

seemed pretty obvious enough that the

drones ended up there due to Ukrainian

jamming, causing their navigation to

malfunction. So Poland and NATO tempered

their reactions. In this case though,

Poland's foreign minister said, quote,

"We think that the prepoundonderance of

evidence suggests that it was deliberate

and that the purpose was to test NATO's

air defenses. It was just one of many

signs that we might be on the verge of

something far more destructive and

open." So the story of Polish speaking

commandos popping up in Ukraine is

probably far from over. But what exactly

are they up to? And how have they kept

their movements so silent? I'm your

average infantman, Chris Cappy. Thank

you for watching. Check out this video,

this playlist here, or this video. And

uh ending transmission.