Verteidigung: Bundeswehr unterstützt Polen beim Schutz der Nato-Ostgrenze

In three rows, concrete barriers lie on a muddy, rutted field. A single gap remains. A dump truck operator lifts one of the heavy concrete elements from a military truck. German and Polish soldiers work together, lifting and aligning the "tank chain" precisely along the row. Two hundred meters away, barbed wire and tall birch trees mark Poland's border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, which is also its NATO eastern frontier.

It is to be fortified - and German soldiers are helping. Generalmajor Tilo Maedler looks toward Russia, his jaw set. "If they think they can see us, they will know immediately with whom they are dealing. It also serves as a deterrent." Since July, about 40 female and male soldiers from an enhanced mechanized engineering battalion have been deployed in northeastern Poland.

They have built a tank defense trench and erected the concrete barriers together with the Polish Army. The deployment is scheduled to continue until the end of October. Poland is investing billions in the "East Shield" project to make its eastern frontier safer. According to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the country is now "safer than ever" along its eastern border.

Poland, an EU and NATO member, is a key supporter of Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia, and is also threatened by Moscow. Therefore, the Polish Defense Ministry plans to fortify around 250 kilometers of the eastern and northern frontier by the end of the year. These include concrete fortifications, electronic surveillance systems, and storage facilities for engineering equipment.

The European Union funds the project through its defense program "SAFE". Barbed wire and high birch trees mark Poland's border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, which is also the NATO eastern frontier. It is to be fortified - and German soldiers are helping. Generalmajor Tilo Maedler looks toward Russia, his jaw set. "If they think they can see us, they will know immediately with whom they are dealing.

It also serves as a deterrent." Since July, about 40 female and male soldiers from an enhanced mechanized engineering battalion have been deployed in northeastern Poland. They have built a tank defense trench and erected the concrete barriers together with the Polish Army. The deployment is scheduled to continue until the end of October.

Poland is investing billions in the "East Shield" project to make its eastern frontier safer. According to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the country is now "safer than ever" along its eastern border. Poland, an EU and NATO member, is a key supporter of Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia, and is also threatened by Moscow. Therefore, the Polish Defense Ministry plans to fortify around 250 kilometers of the eastern and northern frontier by the end of the year.

These include concrete fortifications, electronic surveillance systems, and storage facilities for engineering equipment. The European Union funds the project through its defense program "SAFE".