Andrzej Duda made the statement at a ceremony at Wawel Castle in the southern city of Kraków on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The event celebrated 32 years since the establishment of Poland’s Border Guard agency, according to officials.
The president, accompanied by First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, told the gathering: “Your service is extremely important. Especially in recent years, we’ve realised just how important it is.”
Duda said that Poland’s security situation “has changed recently” due to “the war beyond our eastern border, caused by Russia’s assault on Ukraine,” as well as “the hybrid attack on the Polish border from Belarus, which preceded the war” in Ukraine.
The president said he was grateful to border guards for their service, stressing that “it is often performed in very difficult conditions, regardless of the season.”
Duda said: “You are always on alert to guard our security, to deliver your most important mission. Let me assure you that the majority of the Polish public is full of respect and gratitude for you, for your everyday toil and effort.”
The president told border officials: “You are one of the pillars of national security.”
He praised “the skills, composure and mental resilience” of a Polish border guard team whose aircraft was recently approached by a Russian fighter jet while patrolling the skies over the Black Sea for the European Union's Frontex border agency.
During Monday’s ceremony at Kraków’s Wawel Castle, Duda presented state awards to long-serving Border Guard officials “for services to public security” and promoted two of the agency’s senior officers to general, according to the presidential office.
Monday is day 446 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl, strazgraniczna.pl