Tusk, accompanied by Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński, met Border Guard officers, soldiers, and police at posts in Bobrowniki and Ozierany Wielkie, in Poland’s Podlaskie region in the country's northeast.
He thanked them for protecting the country’s borders and said the public should remember those who work through the holidays.
“So that some can celebrate, someone else must stand watch,” Tusk said, urging Poles to think of uniformed services as they sit down to Christmas Eve dinner.
He added that the same applies to people on duty in hospitals and on the railways.
The prime minister said more than 6,000 people will spend Christmas Eve on duty along Poland’s borders with Belarus and Lithuania, including more than 4,000 soldiers.
Polish authorities have long pointed to Belarus, backed by Russia, as staging hybrid pressure on the border by encouraging attempts at illegal crossings. Poland has expanded security infrastructure in response, including physical barriers and electronic surveillance.
Tusk spoke to reporters next to a newly built observation tower in Ozierany Wielkie, calling it a symbol of the state’s effort to keep the border secure.
Kierwiński said the tower is one of five built in recent months and announced that the first “cluster” of an anti-drone system is being installed there, with plans to bring it online in January.
Kierwiński said the government has spent more than PLN 2 billion in recent years to strengthen the border.
He pointed to major work on electronic monitoring in river sections, reinforcement of the steel barrier, and construction of a technical road running alongside it to speed up response times for Border Guard officers, police, and the Polish armed forces.
He said more investments are planned next year through the ministry’s modernization programs and the European SAFE initiative, adding that nearly PLN 2.5 billion is set to go to the Border Guard.
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Click on the audio player above to hear a report by Agnieszka Łaszczuk.