Warsaw, 19 May 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Poland plans to spend billions of euros on strengthening its eastern border, according to an announcement by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Tusk said he would put 10 billion zlotys ($2.5 billion) into security, above all along the NATO member's eastern border, according to PAP news agency.

"We are starting a major project to build a secure border, including fortifications and reorganisation of the terrain and the environment, so that this border can no longer serve as a gateway for a potential enemy," he said, adding that work on the project called "Protective Shield East" has already begun.

Alongside Lithuania and Ukraine, Poland also borders Belarus to the east and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the north-east.

Relations between Poland, an EU and NATO member state, and authoritarian Belarus, which is allied with Moscow, have been tense for some time.

Tusk's plans come after refugees have repeatedly tried to enter Polish territory from Belarus, in what many have called systematic attempts by Minsk to de-stablize Poland with masses of refugees fleeing conflict.

Furthermore, as Moscow continues its war on Ukraine, many Poles fear their country could also be invaded.

MIA file photo