Matt Drake – Daily Mail May 18, 2024

Poland is investing £2billion to bolster the defence on its eastern border amid growing tensions with Russia and Belarus.

The Shield-East project was announced today by Polish prime minister Donald Tusk.

Poland will be investing 10billion zloty (£2.01billion) in the major project that will include a system of fortifications as well as landscaping to make it ‘impossible’ for a potential enemy to cross.

It is the latest example of Warsaw ramping up its defences after accusing Moscow and Minsk of attempting to destabilise Poland.

Mr Tusk told a news conference: ‘We have decided to invest 10 billion zlotys in our security, and above all in a secure eastern border.

‘We are starting a major project to build a secure border, including a system of fortifications as well as landscaping and environmental decisions that will make this border impossible to pass for a potential enemy.’

Poland is on the eastern flank of Nato and of the European Union and Mr Tusk stressed it bears additional responsibility for Europe’s security.

He was addressing Polish troops in Krakow, in the south, to mark 80 years since the allied victory in the Battle of Monte Cassino against the Nazis, during the Second World War.

Poland’s previous government built a wall on the border with Belarus to halt the massive inflow of migrants that began to be pushed from that direction in 2021, but the current pro-EU government says it needs to be strengthened.

Poland is a staunch ally of Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia’s invasion.

It comes after Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned in an interview with the TASS news agency that security guarantees which Russia had sought and discussed with the West in 2021 were no longer relevant and that Moscow had no trust in the NATO military alliance.

‘(NATO) continues the manic advance of the alliance towards new frontiers… they are literally ready to balance on the brink of a direct armed conflict with us,’ he said.

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