The Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, insisted this Thursday that the eastern border of the country, which separates Polish territory from Russia and Belarus, is protected, while the Government finalizes the presentation of a new alert plan aimed at addressing possible risks, including the diversion of drones into its airspace.
Tusk emphasized that Poland is "safer than ever" thanks to the Eastern Shield, the extensive defensive reinforcement program that Warsaw began to deploy in May 2024 and whose completion is scheduled for 2028. However, the head of the Government believes that it "will never be completed," as it will be permanently updated.
"We are only at the beginning of this path," Tusk stated, according to the news agency PAP, referring to this initiative, valued at 2.3 billion euros and in which the European Union participates through the SAFE plan.
The main purpose is to secure around 400 kilometers of border that Poland shares with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and with Belarus.
In this border section, there has been an increase in attempts to enter Polish territory in recent years, especially from Belarus, a phenomenon that has also been reported by the Baltic countries, which point to Minsk's involvement as a reaction to their support for Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by the EU.
At the same time, the Polish Executive is preparing a new response mechanism in light of the increase in incursions by Russian and Ukrainian drones into national airspace. Tusk highlighted that, during the past night, coinciding with the attacks on Kiev, Polish air force planes remained on alert for any eventuality.
The Minister of Defense of Poland, Wladyslaw Kosinska-Kamysz, indicated that "changes will be necessary" in the defense law in order to deploy "even more quickly" certain equipment and units when such incidents occur.