Poland's eastern border 'safer than ever' as air defences expand: PM

Poland's eastern border is safer than ever, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday, pledging to further strengthen the country's air defences amid concerns over potential threats from Russia and Belarus.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks to reporters in the southern city of Kraków on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026.

Photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski

Tusk said the government would work to expand Poland's air defence capabilities wherever possible, with particular attention to the country's eastern regions under the government's East Shield defence programme.

"We are safer on the eastern border today than ever before," Tusk said at a news briefing in the southern city of Kraków.

He said Poland was spending more on military procurement and air defence than any other country, drawing on both government funds and European Union financing, including the bloc's SAFE defence financing programme.

Tusk also cited tighter security along Poland's border with Belarus as evidence of improved security. He said the number of people crossing illegally had fallen from a peak of several thousand a month to "zero, two or three" crossings a month.

Tusk said the East Shield programme would never be fully completed because a key part of it involved continually modernising Poland's air defences.

"We are at the beginning of this road," he said.

The programme, announced by Poland's defence ministry and military in 2024, is designed to strengthen the country's borders with Russia and Belarus. It includes fortifications, equipment storage facilities, reconnaissance systems and anti-drone installations.

Tusk was also asked about recent comments by Brig. Gen. Michał Marciniak, deputy head of the Armament Agency and the man in charge of the Polish military's Integrated Air and Missile Defence Programme, who said that large Polish cities were not protected by missile defence systems because such systems had not been deployed around them.

Marciniak said that cities would "probably be protected" if Poland entered a state of war. He added that there was a list of priorities and that the government had to decide what was most important.

Tusk said Marciniak's remarks had caused strong reactions but reflected the reality that no country could guarantee that its cities were completely protected from air attacks.

"There is no country that could say that its cities are 100-percent safe because each one is protected by appropriate installations," Tusk said. He added that expanding air defences also depended on the ability of defence companies to produce the necessary equipment.

Tusk said the interior ministry, defence ministry and the Government Centre for Security (RCB) were preparing proposals to improve Poland's warning and alert systems.

Air defence systems deployed according to military priorities: deputy PM

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Thursday that all Polish air defenc systems currently available for operational use had been deployed according to military priorities.

"All systems that can be used today are at the army's disposal, are being used and are deployed according to the military's instructions," Kosiniak-Kamysz said at a news conference in the central city of Płock.

He said Poland was building an integrated, multilayered air defence system but that the process was still underway and some systems had yet to be delivered.

The system includes the Wisła (Vistula) programme, based on US-made Patriot medium-range systems; the Narew programme, based on British CAMM short-range missiles; and the very-short-range Pilica and Pilica+ systems, which combine Polish anti-aircraft guns and Grom and Piorun missiles with CAMM missiles.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said more than PLN 200 billion (EUR 46 billion, USD 54 billion) had been committed through various contracts to air, missile and anti-drone defence.

He said many systems had been deployed in the eastern provinces of Lubelskie and Podkarpackie, where protecting critical infrastructure was a priority.

In Płock, one of the priorities is protecting the refinery, the wider urban area, civilians, critical infrastructure and military units, he said.

Allied air defence systems have also been deployed in Poland for months, Kosiniak-Kamysz said, citing Dutch Patriot batteries protecting the southeastern city of Rzeszów and its Jasionka airport.

He said Poland was also integrating the protection of its eastern border and Warsaw, with anti-aircraft units deployed in locations including Braniewo, Gołdap and along the Polish-Belarusian border.

Kosiniak-Kamysz said the government would seek changes to Poland's national defence law to allow military equipment and units to be deployed more quickly.

Col. Mariusz Czeczko, commander of Poland's 3rd Air Defence Missile Brigade, said "virtually every battalion" was involved in protecting Polish airspace.

The brigade provides medium-range air and missile defence and forms the core of the Wisła programme. Two Patriot batteries operated by the brigade achieved full operational readiness in December.

Poland is due to receive another 48 Patriot launchers, forming six additional batteries, between 2027 and 2029.

That would bring the Polish military's total to eight Patriot batteries, each equipped with eight launchers. They will be assigned to air defence units in Bytom, Gdynia and Skwierzyna, as well as the existing unit in Sochaczew, state news agency PAP reported.

The defence ministry on Wednesday rejected claims that Polish cities lacked protection against aerial threats, saying that Poland's armed forces have various air and missile defence capabilities that can be used to protect urban areas.

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Source: IAR/PAP, gov.pl