Poland will expand the “Eastern Shield” fortification system from the border with Russia and Belarus also to the Ukrainian border, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, Polskie Radio reported.
“Everything we are doing here and will also do on the border with Belarus and Ukraine is aimed at deterring and discouraging the alleged aggressor, so this is really an investment in peace. We will spend billions of zlotys on this, but now the whole of Europe is watching with great pleasure and will support this investment and our activities if necessary. Our activity also concerns border security with Ukraine – for other reasons, but we want Poles to feel safer along the entire length of the eastern border,” Tusk said during a visit to the first constructed section of the fortifications.
He emphasized that the construction of the Eastern Shield will make the Warmian-Masurian, Podlaskie, Lubelskie and Podkarpackie voivodships, which are in Poland’s border regions, safer.
“The better the Polish border is guarded, the less accessible it is to those who would have bad intentions,” the prime minister pointed out.
Tusk assured that countries in the Baltic region will cooperate with Poland to ensure that this infrastructure is effective not only in Polish sections, but also along the entire border, “above all with Russia and Belarus.”
“Eastern Shield” is a program prepared by the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff of the Polish Army, which involves the construction of various types of fortifications, relief barriers and military infrastructure on Poland’s borders with Russia and Belarus – a total distance of about 800 km. It is also planned to build appropriate intelligence and threat detection systems, forward bases, logistics hubs, warehouses and deploy anti-drone systems.
