Ukraine warns of a wave of attacks on the anniversary of the Russian attack: neighboring Poland is preparing with tank blockades. According to Defense Minister Blaszczak, the first were built on the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. But the border with Belarus should also be secured.
On the anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, Poland has started to secure its borders with Russia and Belarus with anti-tank barriers. “This is part of our defense and deterrence strategy,” Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter. The first blockades have already been set up on the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. He also posted photos of tank barriers made of iron and concrete.
Poland’s border with the Kaliningrad region, the former northern half of East Prussia, is around 200 kilometers long. Poland also wants to set up anti-tank barriers along the 418-kilometer border with Belarus. Ruler Alexander Lukashenko has made his country available to Moscow as a base in the war against Ukraine. Belarus is also forming joint forces with Russia. So far, however, it has not actively intervened in the war.
Last year, Poland had already erected a 5.5 meter high fence along the land sections of its border with Belarus. This is intended to make it more difficult for migrants to enter the EU country Poland irregularly. The EU accuses Lukashenko of having flown people from crisis areas such as Iraq or Afghanistan to Minsk in order to then smuggle them into the EU.
Ukraine warned of a wave of attacks on the anniversary. The head of the secret service in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Kyrylo Budanov, referred to a convoy with military material on the border with the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine. Budanov told the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper that “the (Russian) occupiers” are very likely preparing large-scale provocations.
Earlier, Poland’s head of state Andrzej Duda, during his visit to Warsaw, asked US President Joe Biden to move more weapons and military equipment to US military sites in his country. “My proposal was received very positively,” Duda told TVN24 the day before after a meeting between representatives of Eastern European NATO countries and Biden. Duda did not say what kind of weapons it should be. Laying weapons is an easier decision than increasing the presence of US soldiers in Poland, the president said. About 11,000 US troops are currently stationed in Poland, most of them on a rotation basis, according to the Defense Department in Washington.
The EU and NATO member country has an important function as a logistical hub for the military support of Ukraine, which is being attacked by Russia, using Western weapons. Fearing that the conflict could escalate, Poland is currently arming itself massively and is pushing for a strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank.