Poland began construction of Eastern Shield on borders with Russia and Belarus
1 November, 2024 Construction of the Eastern Shield begins in Poland. October 2024. Photo credits: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
Poland has started construction of the Eastern Shield fortification system on the borders with Russia and Belarus. The Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, announced this the day before. He also published a photo on X (Twitter - ed.) showing equipment working on the construction of the fortification.
"Construction of the Eastern Shield has begun! The first works on the border with Russia," the Prime Minister of Poland captioned the photo.
Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk. Photo from mass media
The Eastern Shield program was presented in May.
At the time, Donald Tusk said that the government would invest PLN 10 billion (£2.55 billion).
Construction of the Eastern Shield begins in Poland. October 2024. Photo credits: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
The program involves the construction of a network of fortifications and barriers on Poland's borders with Russia and Belarus.
The completion is scheduled for 2028. Poland will purchase heavy engineering equipment for the construction of barriers on the border with Belarus and Russia as part of the Eastern Shield program. The total value of the contracts is about PLN 600 million, which exceeds £152 million.
Last month, Deputy Minister of National Defense Cezary Tomczyk stated this. The new equipment should strengthen the capabilities of sappers and those units that will prepare and build the engineering barriers on the Polish-Belarusian border. In mid-October, the first tests of the barrier and fortification elements to be used in the Eastern Shield program took place at the Ozhysh training ground.
An engineering barrier made of tetrapods and barbed wire.
Photo credits: Ministry of Defense of Poland
In this regard, Militarnyi published an article by the editor of the Polish edition Defence24, Captain of the Polish Army Reserve Maksymilian Dura: "The Eastern Shield: What Was Missing?".
The fence on the Polish border with Belarus, September 2022.
Photo credits: Stanislaw Zaryn
In 2022, Poland built a 5.5-meter-high, 187-kilometer-long fence on its border with Belarus to counter illegal border crossings.
The fence is equipped with electronic devices that detect violators and signal the attempts to cross the border.