Poland Starts Building Defensive Fortifications on Border With Russia, Belarus

Poland will start building the first elements of defensive fortifications on its borders with Russia and Belarus as part of the Eastern Shield project by the end of 2024.

This was announced by Polish Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk during a press conference, Reuters reports.

Poland plans to strengthen its northern and eastern borders by creating defence lines, surveillance, reconnaissance and drone defence systems, spending about 10 billion zlotys ($2.6 billion) by the end of 2028. 

‘In the next three weeks, we will be able to conduct the first tests of the Eastern Shield elements at Polish military training grounds, so this year we will start building the first elements ... on the northern and eastern borders,’ Tomczyk said.

According to him, the project will be developed in cooperation with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as with British and American forces.

The war in Ukraine has prompted Poland to increase defence spending to 4.2% of gross domestic product in 2024 and to the planned 4.7% in 2025.

Earlier it became known that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland will apply to the European Union to finance the construction of a network of bunkers, barriers, distribution lines and military depots along the borders with Russia and Belarus.

Back in January, the three Baltic States announced a plan to create a ‘Baltic Defence Line’, and in May, Poland announced a similar project called the ‘Eastern Shield’ to strengthen its borders with Russia's Kaliningrad region and Belarus.

As The Gaze previously reported, in February, the Belarusian armed forces conducted military exercises near the borders of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland.