Europe

Poland to send up to 10,000 soldiers to border with Belarus amid concerns over mercenaries

Belarus continues military exercises as Russia claims downing of Ukrainian drones near Moscow

Ukrainian soldiers from the 47th brigade in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. In recent days, remotely piloted Ukrainian boats, also referred to as drones, have attacked a Russian fuel tanker and a navy base at Russia’s Novorossiysk port on the Black Sea. Photograph: David Guttenfelder/New York Times
Ukrainian soldiers from the 47th brigade in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. In recent days, remotely piloted Ukrainian boats, also referred to as drones, have attacked a Russian fuel tanker and a navy base at Russia’s Novorossiysk port on the Black Sea. Photograph: David Guttenfelder/New York Times
Thu Aug 10 2023 - 07:53

Poland is planning to move up to 10,000 additional troops to the border with Belarus to support the border guard, minister for defence Mariusz Blaszczak said on Thursday.

“About 10,000 soldiers will be on the border, of which 4,000 will directly support the border guard and 6,000 will be in the reserve,” Mr Blaszczak said in an interview for public radio.

“We move the army closer to the border with Belarus to scare away the aggressor so that it does not dare to attack us.”

Deputy minister for interior affairs Maciej Wasik said on Wednesday that Poland would send 2,000 additional troops to its frontier with Belarus.

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Poland has worried increasingly about the border area since hundreds of battle-hardened Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus last month at the invitation of president Alexander Lukashenko.

As Belarus continues its military exercises near the border this week, and Lukashenko has said several times that he was restraining Wagner fighters who want to attack Poland.

Poland has also seen an increase in the number of mainly Middle Eastern and African migrants trying to cross the border in recent months.

The head of the border guard, Tomasz Praga, said earlier this week that 19,000 people have tried to cross the Polish-Belarusian border illegally this year, up from 16,000 last year.

Belarusian soldiers and mercenary fighters from Wagner attend week-long manoeuvres near the border city of Brest, Belarus. Photograph: Belarus’s ministry for defence/AP
Belarusian soldiers and mercenary fighters from Wagner attend week-long manoeuvres near the border city of Brest, Belarus. Photograph: Belarus’s ministry for defence/AP

Meanwhile, Russia said on Thursday that it had downed 13 Ukrainian drones seeking to attack the largest city in Russian-annexed Crimea and Moscow.

Russia's defence ministry said two drones were hit by air defences near Sevastopol, the city in Crimea which serves as Russia's Black Sea navy base, and nine more were jammed and crashed into the Black Sea.

One drone was shot down as it approached the Russian capital over the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, and another was shot down over the prestigious Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, the defence ministry said.

“Today... attempts by the Kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks with unmanned aerial vehicles were thwarted,” the defence ministry said, adding that there were no casualties.

Drone air strikes deep inside Russia have increased since a drone was destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Civilian areas of the capital were hit later in May and a Moscow business district was targeted twice in three days earlier this month.

In recent days, remotely piloted Ukrainian boats, also referred to as drones, have attacked a Russian fuel tanker and a navy base at Russia’s Novorossiysk port on the Black Sea.

[ Battles rage in Ukraine as deadly blast rocks Russian military factory ]

Ukraine typically does not comment on who is behind attacks on Russian territory, although officials have publicly expressed satisfaction over them.

The New York Times reported in May that United States intelligence agencies believed Ukrainian spies or military intelligence were behind the drone strike on the Kremlin. – Reuters