Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński announced the expansion on Saturday during a briefing in Lublin, eastern Poland, as Russian strikes increasingly hit targets close to the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Kierwiński said Russia had changed its tactics, with border crossings and other infrastructure near the frontier increasingly coming under attack from jet-powered drones and missiles.
“We are increasingly turning to tools designed to counter these threats,” he said, noting that in early 2024 the region had only around 30 operational sirens that could be activated remotely, compared with nearly 350 today.
The upgrade comes after a series of attacks that have disrupted civilian life and exposed the vulnerability of infrastructure close to Poland’s border.
On Thursday, Lublin and Rzeszów airports temporarily suspended operations as Polish and NATO fighter jets were scrambled to protect regional airspace during what Polish officials described as a major Russian aerial assault on western Ukraine.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk later confirmed that a powerful explosion occurred just several hundred metres from the Polish border crossing at Dorohusk, after a Russian strike hit a Ukrainian petrol station.
Another incident occurred on September 13, when a Russian drone struck a passenger train engine at a railway station in western Ukraine, around two kilometres from the Polish border. The attack disrupted regional logistics and came shortly after a diplomatic train carrying international figures had left the station.
Polish authorities stressed that the country’s airspace was not breached in either incident. But the proximity of the attacks has reinforced concerns about the risks posed to Poland’s eastern flank.
(mo)
Source: PAP