The move comes as Kyiv is scrambling to bolster its troop ranks as it tries to stave off Moscow's invasion of Ukraine's east in February 2022.

The office in Lublin, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Ukrainian border, has "all the necessary equipment" to determine if volunteers are apt for service, Ivan Gavryliuk, a Ukrainian deputy defence minister, said in a statement.

"After enlistment, training of volunteers will take place" in Poland, he said.

Kyiv announced its plans to recruit a "Ukrainian Legion" in July, hoping to convince thousands of men who have fled the country to avoid the war, in particular to Poland and Germany.

The government estimated that around 300,000 people of combat age were living in Poland.

According to the Ukraine defence ministry statement, 138 requests for interviews had been received via internet during the office's first days of operation, with a further 58 registered from consulate bureaus.