WARSAW — Poland has begun reinforcing Border Guard facilities along its frontier with Ukraine amid growing concern that Russian attacks could target border crossings and transport routes linking the war-torn country with the European Union.
Military engineers are constructing fortified observation and guard posts near the crossings at Dorohusk, Medyka and Korczowa. The work includes the installation of Hesco barriers—wire-mesh containers filled with sand or gravel that can protect personnel and infrastructure from explosions and shrapnel.
Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said soldiers from Poland’s 18th Engineer Regiment were strengthening facilities used by the Border Guard. He warned that recent Russian actions demonstrated that the threat extended beyond Ukraine and affected European security as a whole. The fortifications form part of Poland’s wider East Shield defence programme, according to the Polish military and media reports.
The decision followed a series of Russian drone attacks close to Polish territory. On Sunday, a drone struck a locomotive at the railway station in Yahodyn, only a few kilometres from the Polish border. Another drone hit a truck near a petrol station close to the Dorohusk–Yahodyn crossing.
The incidents forced border officers to suspend checks temporarily, evacuate travellers from their vehicles and seek shelter. No casualties were reported on the trains, but the attacks highlighted the vulnerability of transport infrastructure connecting Ukraine with Poland. Reuters reported that the new posts and protective barriers are intended to improve the safety of officers working within range of potential strikes.
One of the damaged trains was travelling towards Warsaw. Shortly before the attack, other trains carrying prominent international visitors—including former British prime minister Boris Johnson, former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt and former CIA director David Petraeus—had passed through or remained near the station. Ukraine’s state railway operator said schedules had been adjusted because of the danger, while an approaching train was evacuated before the drone struck. The Associated Press reported that no passengers were injured.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk had warned several days earlier that Russia could intensify attacks or provocations around Ukraine’s crossings with European countries. He said Poland expected Moscow to target transport and trade routes in an attempt to weaken Ukraine economically and disrupt its connections with Western partners.
Tusk also said Polish and Ukrainian services had recently prevented a direct threat to one of their shared crossing points. He provided no operational details or evidence identifying the source of that particular threat. His warning came after Russian drones struck the Starokozache crossing between Ukraine and Moldova, killing two people. Similar incidents have also been reported near Ukraine’s border with Romania. According to AP, Polish authorities believe such operations could become more frequent along the EU’s eastern frontier.
The Polish-Ukrainian crossings are crucial for passenger traffic, humanitarian assistance, trade and the delivery of Western support to Ukraine. Protecting them has therefore become part of Poland’s broader military planning, alongside improvements to air defence, surveillance and infrastructure on NATO’s eastern flank.
The new fortified posts do not mean that Poland expects an immediate conventional assault across the border. They show, however, that Warsaw is preparing for the possibility that Russian drone and missile attacks inside Ukraine could deliberately—or accidentally—affect Polish territory and the personnel guarding one of NATO’s most strategically important frontiers.
