POLAND is crafting a £2 billion 430-mile line of military defences to protect the rest of Nato from Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Its eastern flank, bordered by Russia‘s Kaliningrad and Belarus, will be shored up with minefields, anti-tank ditches and bunkers.
Avalon.redPoland unveils detailed plans for the new ‘Tusk Line’ defence on Monday[/caption]
Russia is more than two years into its bloody war with Ukraine – pictured: Kharkiv frontline
An anti-tank defence line dubbed ‘Dragon’s Teeth’ in Ukraine
Europe has been gearing up for war with Russia for some time now – as Putin continues his illegal land grab in Ukraine
A staunch supporter of Ukraine, the European country is looking to keep both Russia and its nefarious ally Belarus firmly at bay with a state-of-the-art defence line.
Polish PM Donald Tusk announced the new program to make Nato‘s eastern border “impassable to a potential enemy” earlier this month.
On Monday defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz unveiled the specifics of the East Shield, dubbed the “Tusk Line” by Polish media.
The line of defence will include steel barriers, reinforced steel hedgehogs, pallisades, trenches, tank traps and planned minefields.
Other Nato states including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are collaborating on the ambitious project – set to be finished by 2028.
Countries in Europe have long been sharing concerns about a potential world conflict with Russia – as he pushes forward with his illegal war in Ukraine.
Poland shares a 130-mile border with Russian territory Kaliningrad and an 170-mile one with Belarus.
It’s government said the country is being targeted by Russian aggression via those frontiers.
The hits come in the form of Russian cyberattacks, attempted arson and forced migration across the borders.
Tusk said Alexander Lukashenk, Belarus’ dictator president, is pushing a “hybrid war of migration” on Poland.
He said: “Those are not refugees, those are less and less migrants, families, poor people needing help.
“In 80 per cent of the cases, these are organised groups of men, aged 18 to 30, very aggressive.”
Army officials say the technique is designed to destabilise Europe as a whole – somewhat shielded from Russia for now behind Poland.
The Tusk Line is the largest effort to strengthen Poland’s eastern border since 1945.
Defence chief Kamysz said yesterday: “The ‘East Shield’ deterrence and defence plan is the largest operation to strengthen the eastern border of Poland, the eastern flank of Nato, since 1945.
“It will be a combination of terrain conditions with fortifications and modern technology.”
He said the goal of the shield is to: “protect the territory of Poland, hamper the mobility of our adversary’s troops while making such mobility easier for our own troops and to protect civilians.”
It will include “all kinds of fortifications, barriers, monitoring of the air space on every level and upgrading the existing systems”.
Ukraine built its own line of defence with 42,000 concrete “dragon’s teeth” along barbed wire-lined trenches.
The 600-mile wall is made from anti-tank obstacles, underground bunkers and fortified trenches.
Only days ago, one of Putin’s cronies appeared on State TV to deliver a disturbing warning to other Nato states.
Major Nikolay Plotnikov said the warmonger president needs to correct a “historical mistake” to bring Russia back to Soviet glory.
The tank commander said Moscow should grab Narva in Estonia, Daugavpils in Latvia and Klaipeda in Lithuania.
He believes Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, former Russian dictators, caused an “injustice” by letting the territories go.
Now the Putin crony thinks Moscow should take back the Baltic strongholds.
He also took the opportunity to threaten the same countries, telling them to stop showing support for Ukraine during Vlad’s illegal war.
The Baltic republics have been boosting their land defences against Russia throughout more than two years of war.
Only days ago The Sun spoke to several former army generals who warned that Putin is looking to expand is sea borders in a move against Nato countries.
Putin’s defence ministry announced a shock bid to change Russian maritime borders with Finland and Lithuania last Wednesday.
Russia is reportedly planning to take over Gotland – east of Sweden – which General Richard Shirreff says would give Putin dangerous levels of control in the Baltics.
APPolish armed forces’ Chief of Staff Wieslaw Kukula, right, with Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk on Monday – explaining the features of the ‘Tusk Line’[/caption]
An underground bunker inside a Ukrainian trench
AFPPolish soldiers during a military parade last year[/caption]