Poland on Monday announced details on the planned fortification of its eastern border.
The plan, called Protective Shield East, envisages investments totalling around $2.5 billion to secure 700 kilometres of the country's border and should be completed by 2028.
Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Monday the new plan would include "fortifications, various types of barriers, but also ultra-modern air surveillance systems."
The main objective is deterrence, but also the defence of the border, emphasized Wiesław Kukula, chief of staff of the Polish Armed Forces.
The plan is set to protect against possible surprise attacks, make the mobility of enemy troops more difficult and improve defensive positions. Both soldiers and the civilian population are also to be better protected.
Poland, a member of NATO, neighbours Ukraine, which has been fending off a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two years. Poland also shares a border with authoritarian Belarus, an ally of Moscow, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Over the course of the war in Ukraine, fears have grown in Warsaw that Poland could find itself in Russia's crosshairs.
