{"id":87426,"date":"2024-05-27T21:32:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T18:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/87426\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"polish-officials-detail-shield-east-program-to-strengthen-border-security","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/87426\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish officials detail Shield-East border security program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (TVN24 broadcast)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

May 27, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Shield-East is the largest program to strengthen the eastern border since 1945, as well as a “strategic operation for the sake of Poland’s security,” said W\u0142adys\u0142aw Kosiniak-Kamysz, Polish deputy premier and minister of national defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to TVN24<\/em>, today he told<\/a> reporters that the program is “consistent with NATO’s deterrence and defense plans” and that the European Union (EU) “should take a financial part in building security.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the program is “to prevent the movement of enemy troops, facilitate the movement of our own troops, protect the population and ensure the maximum security of the Polish Armed Forces.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order for it to be successful, a multi-year infrastructure plan is needed to prepare “fortifications, various types of barriers, as well as the most advanced airspace monitoring systems for every parameter, at every altitude.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this regard, the minister mentioned the Barbara reconnaissance system, consisting of four aerostats worth about $1billion and a satellite component, as well as the latest unmanned and anti-drone systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kosiniak-Kamysz also pointed out the growing migratory pressure. The barrier on the border with Belarus will be strengthened, he said. “This measure is separate from the Shield-East program. Shield-East should be a military measure, and both should complement each other,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cezary Tomczyk, secretary of state at the Ministry of National Defense, said the project provides for the protection of about 700 km of the frontier, including 400 km of the border with Belarus. According to him, the ministry plans to complete the project by 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the coming weeks, a bill “on investments of key importance for state security” will be submitted to the Sejm to sort out “not only military units and airports, but also issues related to the border,” Tomczyk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first investments in the Shield-East program are expected in the first quarter of 2025, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Chief of General Staff Wies\u0142aw Kuku\u0142a, the main purpose of the program is to “restrain the enemy and prevent them from starting a war, to dissuade them from starting it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“However, if there is a war, our tactical goal is to win the border battle,” the general stressed. “To do this, we should ensure counter-mobility: first of all, stop the enemy . . . or, perhaps, direct their movement to . . . places where we will methodically destroy them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would require anti-tank ditches, the Czech hedgehogs, drainage ditches and other measures, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 18, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in Krak\u00f3w that the government allocated 10 billion zlotys ($2.54 billion) under the new Shield-East program to reinforce the border with Belarus and Russia. “We have already started work to make the Polish border safe in peacetime and impassable for the enemy in wartime,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over 60 percent of Poles support border fortifications with Russia, Belarus \u2013 poll<\/h3>\n
May 20, Pozirk. As many as 64 percent of Polish citizens support the construction of fortifications on the border with Belarus and Russia, such as barbed wire, bunkers and trenches, an SW Research poll found, Polskie Radio reported. Eight hundred …<\/div>\n \n