the essential
Poland will build a protective wall called the “Eastern Shield” on the border with Belarus and Russia. Poland will also secure its border with Ukraine. The Polish Prime Minister made it official on Saturday.
A new wall is being erected in Eastern Europe. Poland has started building a wall to protect itself from neighbors it considers dangerous. The “Eastern Shield” will soon separate Poland from Belarus, led by a loyal ally of Vladimir Putin, but also from the Kaliningrad oblast, a Russian territory, located in the northeast of Poland.
The “Eastern Shield” will also concern the border between Poland and Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk made the announcement on Saturday at a press conference near the border with Russia, where he visited the first section built. 3,500 concrete elements have already been installed.
“Everything we do here and will also do on the border with Belarus and Ukraine is aimed at deterring and discouraging a possible aggressor, so it is truly an investment in peace,” the Polish leader said, according to the Polish press agency PAP. “Our activities will also concern securing the border with Ukraine – for other reasons – but we want Poles to feel safer along the entire eastern border.”
AFP – WOJTEK RADWANSKI
AFP
AFP
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700 km of fortifications
The “Eastern Shield” project, announced in May 2024, will result in 700 km of fortifications, including 400 km with Belarus alone, with detection and warning systems (radars and satellites), anti-drone systems, forward logistics bases (bunkers, military and civilian shelters and ammunition depots) and anti-tank ditches. This “Eastern Shield” will not have the appearance of a new Berlin Wall. “These are not skyscrapers, but they are kilometers of installations. Certain parts of this project are not visible to the naked eye, Donald Tusk insisted. And to remind: “It is of the largest project of its type in the history of Europe after 1945”.
The work must be completed by 2028. The project is estimated at $2.5 billion and will be financed by the Polish budget and European funds.
