Latest news with #EastShield
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Poland halted migration with 'big, beautiful 116-mile fence'
Poland 's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski (pictured) has claimed a £300 million border wall has proven '98 per cent effective' at preventing attempts of illegal migration from Belarus. 'We had large numbers of people who were invited by Russia and Belarus from the Middle East and Africa who were then pushed across the Polish-Belarusian border into Poland,' Sikorski told BBCR4's Today programme. Warsaw alleges that Minsk and Moscow have long been waging a 'hybrid war', seeking to flood Poland with refugees to strain the country's finances and law enforcement resources, and destabilise civil society. Border checkpoints are also reinforced with huge concrete slabs, each weighing more than 1.5 tonnes, along with secondary walls and barbed-wire fencing. Sikorski spoke to BBCR4 amid discussions about soaring illegal migration figures in Britain, with 20,000 migrants said to have arrived in Britain via small boats crossing The Channel so far in 2025. Now, Polish authorities are proceeding full steam ahead with a new project - East Shield - which aims to transform its entire frontier with Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad into one gigantic, closely surveilled fortification. The 400-mile-long construction, announced last year and targeted for completion in 2028, arguably constitutes the single most significant national security investment in Poland's post-war history at more than £2 billion. It was green-lit by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's (pictured) government in response to Russia's war in Ukraine, and Moscow and Minsk's so-called hybrid war tactics. In addition to the barbed wire-topped fencing, concrete reinforcements and secondary defences, the East Shield will see strips of land turned into minefields and littered with anti-tank fortifications including steel and concrete hedgehogs, 'dragon's teeth' obstacles and deep trenches, along with drone defence equipment. This multi-layered line of defence is expected to extend more than 200 metres back from the initial border wall. Behind these defences, Warsaw is constructing bunkers, firing posts and other military infrastructure in the forests, woods and small villages spanning the length of the country to provide yet more resistance should the deterrent fail. According to details provided by the government, the programme will also employ state-of-the-art surveillance equipment, including imagery intelligence (IMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), and acoustic monitoring to improve situational awareness of the would-be battlefield. Cezary Tomczyk, Poland's Secretary of State in the Ministry of National Defence, sees the mammoth project as not just a defence insurance policy for Poland, but for the whole of Europe. Speaking at the launch of the project in 2024, he said: 'Today we are making a decision that will change how we think about Poland's security for decades. This is not just Poland's border. It is the border of the European Union and NATO. The frontline of democracy, order and stability.' As such, Poland worked to attract investment from the European Union's lending and financing arm, the European Investment Bank (EIB), to help finance East Shied. In March, the defence ministry announced that the EIB had agreed in principle to spend up to €1 billion on the project, close to half the forecasted cost. Lieutenant General Stanislaw Czosnek, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, told Ukrainskaya Pravda in May that the invasion of Ukraine by Russia was the primary motivating factor behind East Shield. 'The security environment in our region has significantly deteriorated. We are in a state of hybrid war, and we are acting in advance,' he said. In the months before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland was already struggling to cope with a constant stream of migrants crossing the border from Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (pictured) had urged migrants to forge a path further West and even began facilitating visas and travel from Middle Eastern countries to accelerate the process. The move prompted Warsaw to break with EU migration policies and begin work on its border fence - a project whose necessity was justified in November 2021 when crowds of migrants attempted to bust through then-incomplete defences. Heavily armed riot police and border security teams were dispatched to manage the ruckus. In one particularly shocking clash, some members of a group of more than 1,000 migrants tried to hack down a barbed-wire fence only to meet a phalanx of Polish guards who forced them back with pepper spray. Poland's then-Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said: 'The Polish government is determined and we will defend the security of our country,' labelling the action an 'invasion' orchestrated by Belarus. The border wall was completed after months of work in June 2022, but the number of people lodging asylum claims in Poland only continued to increase. Hundreds of migrants have also attempted to penetrate the border fencing, mostly to no avail. Those that do manage to sneak or force their way through are swiftly detained by heavily armed Polish border guards patrolling the fence in armoured vehicles. A brazen attempt to cut through the fence in March proved the last straw for Premier Donald Tusk, who promptly suspended the right to claim asylum in Poland for 60 days, save for unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, elderly or unwell people. Earlier this year, the Polish government confirmed it would not take part in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which the bloc implemented to manage the arrival of asylum seekers. Under the agreement, states could either relocate a certain number of migrants, pay a financial contribution or provide operation support to help resettlement. Tusk said: 'Poland will not implement the Migration Pact in a way that would introduce additional quotas of immigrants in Poland. We are ready to cooperate with everyone to protect Europe from illegal migration. However, Poland will not take on any additional burdens. We have already taken on more than anyone could have imagined just a few years ago.' As Poland continues cracking down on illegal migration, Britain is struggling with record-breaking numbers of migrants arriving via small boats. More than 20,000 people have reached Britain by crossing The Channel on migrant vessels since the start of the year. The same milestone was not hit until mid-to-late August in previous years, including 2022 - the year which went on to see a record annual total of 45,700 arrivals. Since the start of the so-called Channel crisis in 2018, more than 170,000 migrants have reached Britain by small boat - but only about four per cent have been removed. The overall cost of the asylum system was £5.3billion in 2023-24, more than double the amount spent in 2021-22. Accommodation costs are expected to hit more than £15billion over 10 years - triple the original estimate - the National Audit Office said in May. French President Emmanuel Macron's government recently agreed to change its rules so gendarmes and other officials can intercept dinghies already in the Channel, and prevent them heading for Britain. The new 'maritime doctrine', expected to come into force in the next few weeks, will allow French police to block small boat departures within 300 metres of the shoreline. However, French police unions are understood to have expressed concerns that their members may be required to enter the water wearing body armour, which can weigh up to 6lbs and would put them at risk of drowning. Last month, sources said French officers had also raised concerns about being unable to carry firearms if they are required to go into the sea, because salt water would damage the weapons. French police colonel Olivier Alary told the BBC earlier this month his teams 'will be able to do more' once the 300 metre rule comes into force.
Daily Maverick
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
The new Iron Curtain: Eastern Europe mobilises for defence against Russian aggression
US President Donald Trump's threat not to respect America's Nato obligations has spurred Europe into action. Europe is preparing for war with Russia. On the one hand that seems like a statement of the obvious since European powers have been providing military support to Ukraine over the past three years. On the other hand it is striking to see and hear preparations for war taking concrete form along Nato's own eastern borders. To see the mobile air defence missile launchers recently deployed along the perimeter of the runway as you step off an aircraft at Poland's Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, about 100km from the border with Ukraine. And Poland is mining its frontiers with Russia's Kaliningrad enclave and with Russia's close ally Belarus as part of its East Shield defence barrier, which some have likened to a new Iron Curtain rising across Europe. War with Russia — when it might happen, how to prepare for it — dominated discussion at the big Globsec security conference in Prague last week. The recent warning by German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl that Moscow could soon launch an attack on a European Nato member to test the alliance's Article 5 mutual defence obligations was the leitmotif of the conference, evidence that the threat was being taken very seriously. Europe jolting into action to assume greater responsibility for its own defence against Russia was the focus of discussion. 'Putin didn't wake up Europe. Trump did,' said Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, pertinently describing how the US president's threats not to respect America's Nato obligations had finally concentrated Europe's collective mind. At next week's summit in The Hague, Nato states are expected to increase defence spending from 2% of national GDPs to 3.5% on hard military items such as tanks, warplanes, air defence, missiles and extra troops. A further 1.5% will be spent on things like roads, bridges, ports and airfields. But there are differences about how and how soon to do that, with frontline states in the east demanding much faster, firmer action than western European states. Read more: War in Ukraine 'I believe there is no point to start preparing for the war after the war,' Estonia's Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur remarked dryly, in response to suggestions that the increased defence spending of Nato member states could take place over three to five years. No state is more frontline than Estonia, probably the most vulnerable of all Nato member countries, because of its exposed geography and relatively large Russian-speaking minority. When Kahl, head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND), said he had evidence Russia was preparing to test Nato's resolve, he added: 'They don't need to send tanks for that. They just have to send 'little green men' to Estonia to defend the allegedly oppressed Russian minority.' The little green men referred to the clandestine Russian soldiers without insignia who seized key strategic facilities in Crimea in 2014 in the opening phase of the Russian occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula. Romania's Defence Secretary Sorin-Dan Moldovan agreed with Tsahkna, saying his country needed extra Nato spending in 'three to five days, not three to five years'. And he dismissed talk of the eastern flank being more exposed than the western flank, saying increased defence spending was about the collective defence of all of Europe. For countries like the Czech Republic (aka Czechia) and Poland, the threat is not only about geography but also about history. As Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Marian told visiting African journalists last week, 'in these two countries the understanding of the Russian threat is even more imminent' than for some other Nato countries, because 'we have our historical experience with Russian aggressive behaviour'. He refers to the fact that after World War 2 both countries were forced to become part of the 'Eastern Bloc' — satellites of the Soviet Union — and in 1968 Moscow and other countries of the Warsaw Pact sent tanks into what was then Czechoslovakia to crush the 'Prague Spring', a fragile blossoming of very modest freedom. Poland and Czechoslovakia then contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, finally gaining their independence. Behind, but improving The EU took an important step towards greater autonomy and integration in its own defence last year when it appointed its first Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius. He was asked at the Globsec conference, though, why the European members of Nato had collectively spent more than $3-trillion on defence over the past decade and yet still had 'tiny tank forces, smaller air forces and still felt threatened by a much smaller and weaker Russia'. Kubilius answered that Nato's European members had underspent on defence for too long while looking for peace dividends from the US. He said the European defence industry had become very fragmented and had failed to use the power of a single market to improve its competitiveness. European nations were spending only 20% of their defence budgets procuring European production versus 60% on US defence production, undermining European defence productions. But he noted that things were changing. He recalled that Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte had said when Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Russia was able to produce more ammunition in three months than all Nato members, including the US, were able to produce in a year. However, Nato was improving. When the war started, EU states had promised Ukraine one million artillery shells and had only produced about 300,000 a year. This year it got up to two million shells. 'But still we are behind,' Kubilius said, adding that Nato was so far only meeting 53% of its targets for increasing its defence capabilities. He proposed various remedies, such as cutting red tape so that European defence companies could produce weapons jointly, and also said European countries should increase the joint procurement of weapons. These measures would both increase demand and decrease the costs of European defence production. But political will is clearly the key. War fatigue Daily Maverick likewise asked both Czech President Petr Pavel and Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky why Ukraine's many allies were unable to give it all the backing it needed, given their massive economic superiority over Russia. Lipavsky suggested the collective political will was lacking, saying: 'It goes back to the domestic debate in every allied state on how to support Ukraine and to what extent. 'You can follow the debate in the US, you can follow the debate in Czechia, you can follow the debate in Germany. 'So, yes, we have the power to do so (to help Ukraine win), we need to find a will, and I'm calling for that will regularly.' Pavel's reply was that Czechia and Ukraine's other allies did not aim to defeat or destroy Russia but just to help Ukraine to defend itself against Russia. He agreed that the West had the power to defeat Russia but remained cautious because it did not want to provoke Russia into a major conflict since it was armed with about 6,000 ballistic nuclear weapons. And even if Russia only deployed tactical nuclear weapons that would be disastrous. He said some European countries were cautious as they wished to resume economic relations with Russia when the war ended. But Pavel also observed that if Ukraine's allies had shown greater political will and fully supported the Ukraine from the start, it would have won the war in the first year and avoided the current stalemate where it now only seemed possible to reach a compromise settlement in which Ukraine would have to cede up to 20% of its territory that Russia occupies. And there is a danger that the unity of Europe's political resolve to support Ukraine may be weakening, even as the EU steps up its efforts to increase support. 'War fatigue' seems to be setting in among populations grown weary of war talk, and war spending. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has opposed military support to Ukraine from the start. Slovakia's recently elected populist Prime Minister Robert Fico has also suggested that his country might be better off neutral. Karol Nawrocki, Poland's newly elected president, who takes office in August, is ambivalent on Ukraine. He has publicly expressed opposition to Ukraine's accession to Nato and the European Union while also saying Poland should 'support Ukraine from a strategic and geopolitical point of view'. And in Czechia, the opposition ANO party led by former prime minister Andrej Babiš, which is leading in the polls for October election, is also ambivalent about the war. He has criticised current Prime Minister Petr Fiala's shipping of heavy weapons to help Kyiv and his initiative to find and fund artillery ammunition for Ukraine's defence. Globsec published a list of seven possible scenarios for the progress of the war over the next two years, which assigned the highest probability, 38%, to a scenario in which the war of attrition continued but with 'lowered intensity of hostilities due to draining out of resources on both sides'. It noted: 'The trajectory of the war will be increasingly shaped by whether Europe, particularly a 'Coalition of the Willing', can swiftly and quickly construct a credible, unified military and economic support framework for Ukraine in the absence of strong US leadership. Failure to do so risks weakening Ukraine's long-term capacity to resist and may create openings for Russian coercive diplomacy or territorial advances.' DM
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Polish troops show part of fortifications on border with Russia
Polish troops have shown a section of engineering fortifications on the Polish-Russian border, constructed under the East Shield programme. Source Polish news portal RMF24, as reported by European Pravda Details: Photos show the fortifications in the village of Rutka, located in Gmina Barciany, administrative district in Kętrzyn County. They are being built as part of East Shield – Poland's national deterrence and defence programme. At the event, Lieutenant General Stanisław Czosnek, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, emphasised that Poland, as a self-respecting country, has its own defence preparedness plans. Fortifications on the Polish-Russian border. Photo: Polish Press Agency Quote from Czosnek: "The security environment in our region has significantly deteriorated. We are in a state of hybrid war, and we are acting in advance. We started defensive measures much earlier (...). The expansion of the East Shield along the border with Russia is taking place in Rutka, but we are doing the same along the border with Belarus and in the area near Ukraine." Details: He underlined that the engineering fortifications are the most visible element, but "the East Shield programme is multi-layered". Czosnek explained that the programme includes reconnaissance, early warning systems, chemical protection, logistics systems, military defence, mobility and countermobility and adapting medical infrastructure to the needs of the armed forces in the region. The military personnel are cooperating with all government institutions and local authorities, as well as the ministries of agriculture, infrastructure and digital affairs. Czosnek also stated that the troops do not expropriate private property when planning such investments. Quote from Czosnek: "There were a lot of concerns about land acquisition. We have been working here for a year. There are no expropriations. The troops use state treasury lands, military facilities or property belonging to local authorities. There is not a single case where private property has been affected." Details: Major General Marek Wawrzyniak, Head of the Military Engineering Directorate, also took part in the event near the Russian border. Quote from Wawrzyniak: "We are aware that any fortification is merely an obstacle if not secured, so firing positions, shelters for soldiers and firing points for equipment are being built here. When planning, we rely on experience gained in Ukraine and other operations. This location is a good example of how engineering obstacles should be positioned in the field. On one side, there is forest, and on the other – swampy terrain, which provides an anti-mobility advantage." Details: He noted that under the planning and construction of the East Shield, the troops have acquired land in 30 settlements, where work is already under way. Reconnaissance has been conducted in over 70 settlements and locations. Background: At the end of last year, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the start of construction of the East Shield fortification system along the borders with Russia and Belarus. The decree to establish the national deterrence and defence programme East Shield, with a budget of PLN 10 billion (about US$2.6 billion) for implementation from 2024 to 2028, was adopted by the Polish government on 10 June last year during an off-site meeting in Białystok. Earlier, it was reported that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland would appeal to the European Union for funding to build a network of bunkers, barriers, defensive lines and military depots along the borders with Russia and Belarus. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Washington Post
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump should build a wall between Russia and Ukraine
President Donald Trump believes in border walls. 'Walls work,' he has said, and he remains determined to finish his wall on the U.S. southern border that Democrats obstructed in his first term. In the meantime, here's an idea: Trump should build a wall between Russia and Ukraine. Right now, Poland is building one across its entire 400-mile frontier with Russia and Russia-allied Belarus. Polish officials went to school on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and came up with a border barrier specifically designed to stop the Russian army. The project, dubbed 'East Shield,' began construction in October and will combine old-school physical barriers with high-tech surveillance systems.
Sky News
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Inside a NATO base in Poland - as residents bordering Russia say 'scare tactic' is needed
Along the thin strip of beach and woodland known as the Vistula Spit which marks the northernmost demarcation between Poland and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, there is not much in the way of a border. Just some torn wire fencing and a few rotten posts which seem to stagger drunkenly into the shallows of the Baltic Sea. Beneath a sign barring entry, we find a couple of empty bottles of Russian cognac and vodka. It doesn't feel like the edge of NATO territory. "I don't see much protection. It's not good," says Krzysztof from Katowice, who has come to inspect the border himself. "We have to have some kind of scare tactic, something to show that we are trying to strengthen our army," says Grzegorz, who lives nearby. "At the same time I think I would not base the defence of our country solely on our army. I am convinced that Europe or America, if anything were to happen, will help us 100%." Poland is investing massively in its defence, with military spending set to hit 4.7% of GDP in 2025, more than any other NATO country. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said he will introduce voluntary military training for men of any age, and women too should they wish, so the army has a competent reserve force in the event of war. He is investing $2.5bn in stronger border fortifications between Russia and Belarus, a project called East Shield which will include anti-tank obstacles, bunkers and potentially minefields too. Along with its Baltic neighbours, Poland is withdrawing from the Ottawa convention against the use of land mines. It hasn't committed to using them, but it wants to have that option. We've been granted access to one of the cornerstones of Polish, and European defence, which is a couple of hours drive from the Vistula spit at the Redowicze military base. Aegis Ashore Poland, together with its sister site in Romania, are the land-based arms of NATO's missile defence shield over Europe, which is run by the US navy. They are symbols of the US commitment to NATO and to the protection of Europe. And despite changes at the top of the Pentagon it is "business as usual", says Captain Michael Dwan who oversees air and missile defence within the US Sixth Fleet. "Our mission to work with NATO forces has been unchanged. And so our commitment from the United States perspective and what capability we bring to ballistic missile defence and the defence of NATO is championed here in Poland." As far as Russia is concerned, NATO's two missile defence bases in Romania and Poland represent a NATO threat on their doorstep and are therefore a "priority target for potential neutralisation", per Russia's foreign ministry. NATO says the installations are purely defensive and their SM-3 interceptor missiles are not armed and are not intended to carry warheads. Russia counters they could easily be adapted to threaten Russia. Not the case, Captain Dwan says. "It's not a matter of moving offensive weapons here into the facility, the hardware and the infrastructure is simply not installed. "It would take months or years to change the mission of this site and a significant amount of money and capability and design." With so much marked "secret" on the site, it seems amazing to be granted the access. But for NATO, transparency is part of deterrence. They want potential adversaries to know how sophisticated their radar and interception systems are. They know that if they carried warheads on site, that would make them a target so they don't. Deterrence also depends on whether potential adversaries believe in the US's commitment to NATO and to Europe's defence. On an operational level, as far as the troops are concerned, that commitment may still be iron-clad. But as far as its commander-in-chief goes, there is still - as with so much around Donald Trump's presidency - a great deal of uncertainty. In the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon President Trump suggested he might bundle a potential US troop drawdown in Europe together with the issue of EU trade and tariffs. "Nice to wrap it up in one package," he said, "it's nice and clean". Probably not the way Europe sees it, not with a resurgent Russia on their doorstep, economic tailwinds breeding animosity and the notion of Pax Americana crumbling at their feet.
