Kaczyński: Poland to strengthen defence on border with Belarus

Deputy PM and PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak held a press conference on Wednesday after the meeting of the Council of Ministers Committee for Natinoal Security and Defence Affairs.

Kaczyński said the Committee had convened in an extraordinary mode. "We have - at least potentially - a new situation in Belarus. The Wagner Group's presence there. According to the data we have at the moment, it could be around 8,000 soldiers," he added.

"This element, which is dangerous to Ukraine and the Ukrainians know that, is also potentially dangerous to Lithuania, and could also be dangerous to us. It could signify a new stage of the hybrid war, a stage much more difficult than the one we've been dealing with so far," the deputy PM said.

"Therefore, decisions have been made regarding strengthening our defence at the eastern border, relating both to certain short-term undertakings and undertakings that will have permanent character," he announced.

Kaczyński explained it would mean "an increase in forces that will be permanently present there as well as an increase in various kinds of obstacles and fortifications meant to protect our border if it's attacked".

Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin flew into exile in Belarus on Tuesday under a deal that ended a brief mutiny by his fighters, as President Vladimir Putin praised his armed forces for averting a civil war.

A plane linked to Prigozhin was shown on a flight tracking service taking off from the southern Russian city of Rostov early on Tuesday and landing in Belarus.

"I see Prigozhin is already flying in on this plane," state news agency BELTA quoted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as saying. "Yes, indeed, he is in Belarus today."

In Moscow, Putin sought to reassert his authority after the mutiny led by Prigozhin in protest against the Russian military's handling of the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian authorities also dropped a criminal case against his Wagner Group mercenary force, state news agency RIA reported, apparently fulfilling another condition of the deal brokered by Lukashenko late on Saturday that defused the crisis.

Prigozhin, a former Putin ally and ex-convict whose mercenaries have fought the bloodiest battles of the Ukraine war and taken heavy casualties, had earlier said he would go to neighbouring Belarus at the invitation of Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin and an acquaintance of the Wagner chief.

Ukraine hopes the chaos caused by the mutiny attempt will undermine Russian defences as Ukraine presses a counteroffensive to recapture occupied territory in the south and east.