It’s needed, the government in Warsaw says, because Russia and Belarus are waging a particular kind of hybrid warfare: helping groups of migrants — mostly from Africa or the Middle East — to break through the border to provoke and destabilize Poland and the rest of Europe.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called for drastically higher defence spending in the European Union in an address to the European Parliament on Wednesday. "If Europe is to survive, it needs to be armed,

Russian president Vladimir Putin and his ally in neighbouring Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, have sought to weaponise migration by pushing thousands of migrants brought from elsewhere in the world over the EU’s borders in an effort to fuel support for anti-immigration far-right parties.

Difficult times require bold decisions [and] leadership. We call on our allies to follow this lead,” says Baltic nation’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys.

Polish border guards look east into Belarus at the crossing point Połowce-Pieszczatka in Polowce, Poland on Jan 16. (AP)

It’s become a buffer zone since Belarus’ ally ... farther north line Poland's frontier with the Russian region of Kaliningrad. Poland is Ukraine’s top logistical backer.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. FILE – Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, head of the Viasna human rights group, sits in a ...

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said that protecting borders is a 'sacred duty', but humanitarian organisations have expressed concerns. View on euronews

Poland’s six-month presidency of the European Union is firmly focused on security. As Europe’s biggest land war in decades rages, fewer places highlight the challenges and contradictions of defending the bloc and its values more starkly than the border with Belarus.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 653 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the fifth day of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.

European Union top diplomat Kaja Kallas warned on Wednesday of a possible attack by Russia in the coming years, as she appealed for defence spending to be boosted. "Many of our national intelligence agencies are giving us the information that Russia could test EU's readiness to defend itself in three to five years,

According to Politico, Poland plans to allocate 4.7% of its GDP to defense this year—the highest within NATO—and intends to increase this amount in subsequent years. Lithuania’s recent decision, however, makes it the first country to fully meet Trump’s proposed threshold.