Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Platform X that work has begun on the construction of the Eastern Shield. He attached a photo to the post, which, as the description says, shows “the first works on the border with Russia.”
The Eastern Shield is a program developed by the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff of the Polish Army, which involves the construction of various types of fortifications, land barriers and military infrastructure on the borders of Poland with Russia and Belarus – a total distance of about 800 kilometers.
READ ALSO: Shield East has started. “The first fortifications will be built in the coming days.”
The project was presented in May of this year; The government has repeatedly announced that they will start the first works this year. In the middle of October, the first tests of the shield elements were held in the Orzis training ground (Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship). The prime minister announced the start of work on Thursday evening in a post on X. “The construction of the Eastern Shield has begun! The first works on the border with Russia,” he wrote. He attached a photo of construction vehicles to the entrance.
Forts and natural terrain barriers
The decision to establish the “National Prevention and Defense Program – Eastern Shield”, for which PLN 10 billion has been allocated in 2024-2028, was adopted by the Council of Ministers on June 10 at an external meeting in Białystok. According to the statement of the prime minister's office, “the government intends to create a comprehensive defense infrastructure on the eastern side of NATO to counter threats from Belarus and Russia.”
The Eastern Shield program includes, among others: the construction of fortifications and natural terrain barriers in the main border areas. It is also planned to build appropriate intelligence and threat detection systems, advanced bases, logistics nodes, warehouses and deployment of anti-drone systems.
Shield EastPAP
The goal is, on the one hand, to make the border defense as easy as possible for the Polish army, and on the other hand, to make it as difficult as possible for a potential aggressor to enter the country's territory.
The construction of fortifications on the territory of about 800 kilometers on the eastern and northern border of Poland – it includes the main voivodeships, namely Pomeranian Voivodeship, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Lublin Voivodeship, Podlaskie Voivodeship and Podkarpackie Voivodeship.
Main image source: x.com/donaldtusk
