Interior ministry: 2,000 troops will help secure Belarus border

Poland has worried increasingly about the border area since hundreds of battle-hardened Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus last month at the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Belarus started military exercises near the border this week, and Lukashenko said several times that he is restraining Wagner fighters who want to attack Poland.

Poland has also seen an increase in the number of mainly Middle Eastern and African migrants trying to cross the border in recent months. For the past two years it has accused Belarus of recruiting migrants in poor countries and sending them across the border illegally to foment instability.

"This reinforcement will be not by 1,000, but by 2,000 soldiers," Maciej Wąsik told PAP. "This decision was made by the Security Committee, this decision was made by (Defence) Minister Mariusz Błaszczak"

On Monday had Wąsik said that the Border Guard was requesting an additional 1,000 soldiers be deployed.

Wąsik said that all attempts to illegally enter Poland by migrants were now being organised by Belarusian authorities.

"If we had real border guards on the other side, and not smuggling services, these crossings would not exist at all," he said.

The Belarusian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Belarus started military exercises near the border this week.

Germany has offered to extend the deployment of three Patriot air defence units in Poland until the end of 2023, the defence ministry in Berlin said on Tuesday (August 8).

"An extension beyond the end of 2023 is not foreseen," the ministry said in a statement, adding that some of Germany's Patriot units were needed for use by NATO's quick reaction response force in 2024, while others had to undergo maintenance.

Polish MOD confirmed on Wednesday it has received the German offer.

Together with three Patriot air defence units, some 300 German soldiers have been based in the Polish town of Zamość, about 50 km (31 miles) from the Ukrainian border, since the start of the year to protect the southern town and its crucial railway link to Ukraine.

The deployment was triggered by a stray Ukrainian missile that struck the Polish village of Przewodów in the region last November, in an incident that raised fears of the war in Ukraine spilling over the border.

During a visit to Zamość in July, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius had not immediately responded to a request by his Polish counterpart to extend the Patriot mission.

Relations between Berlin and the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party in Warsaw have been strained, with both sides at odds over a range of topics - from arms deliveries to Kyiv to an EU migration deal rejected by Poland.

Ground-based air defence systems such as Raytheon's RTX.N Patriot are built to intercept incoming missiles.

They are, however, in short supply across NATO since many allies scaled down the number of air defence units after the Cold War.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent NATO allies scrambling to plug the gaps in their own inventories, while also supplying Kyiv with air defence systems to ward off Russian attacks.