Poland to deploy Patriots near Ukrainian border, announces $26 billion civil defense plan

Poland will station Patriot air defense batteries in its Lublin region, bordering Ukraine, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz announced on Oct. 5, according to Polish Radio. The same day, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced his government will adopt a civil defense program worth 102.4 billion zlotys ($26.4 billion).

Kosiniak-Kamysz said the Patriot batteries are meant to reassure the residents of the Lublin region and protect Lublin airport and its air traffic, Polish Radio reported. Amid rising tensions between Russia and Poland, Russia has repeatedly violated Polish airspace.

The defense minister also announced that new military formations, including unmanned systems forces, will be created in the region, Polish Radio said.

Tusk announced his government will adopt a draft resolution for the Population Protection and Civil Defence Programme for 2027-2031, Polish state news agency Pap wrote.

"Five years of full funding for the program, we are talking about very large sums guaranteed for the protection of civilians and civil defense. It will be mainly investments," Tusk said.

While previous programs only paid for emergency purchases such as generators, local governments had pushed for a longer, better-funded program, Tusk said.

The money will be spent on shelters, equipment, rescue bases, stockpiles, and securing water and energy supplies during natural disasters and wartime, the prime minister said. Additionally, funding will go toward warning systems and ICT security, Tusk said. Of this money, 30 billion zlotys (about $7.7 billion) will be allocated to the regional authorities, according to him.

"Local governments will decide, so that they have a voice co-deciding what type of investment, whether it's a shelter, whether it's a firehouse, whether it's a matter of telecommunications - what is most needed," Tusk said.

On Sept. 13, Tusk warned that Russian escalation could increase in the upcoming months, following Russian strikes on a Polish-Ukrainian border crossing and a passenger train.

"The escalation of actions of the Russian Federation is becoming a fact and its examples are getting closer and closer to our borders," Tusk said in a briefing with defense officials. "What can be expected is that the next weeks and months will be a period of very intensive actions from the Russian side. Unfortunately, we cannot rule out that this escalation will also concern our territory."