In the spring of next year, the Bundeswehr will begin building defensive structures near the border with Russia — near the Kaliningrad region as part of the Polish operation Eastern Shield. This was stated after a meeting with his German counterpart Nils Schmid at the Malbork airbase by Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Zalewski.
It is planned to build defense lines near the border with Belarus.
Bundeswehr soldiers will primarily be responsible for "creating positions, digging trenches, installing barbed wire and erecting anti-tank barriers," Bild newspaper writes. The deployment will begin in the second quarter of 2026 and should last until the end of 2027. As explained in the Ministry of Defense of Poland, a separate mandate of the Bundestag will not be required for this, since it is not considered a combat overseas deployment and "does not imply an immediate threat to military personnel as a result of military clashes."
"Germany is already involved in the defense of Poland: since November 2024 — through the deployment of Patriot complexes in the Rzeszow area, and since December 2025 — with the Luftwaffe air group on duty at the Malbork base, just 60 kilometers from Kaliningrad," the newspaper notes.
As reported by EADaily, Swedish Minister Paul Johnson and Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh took part in the opening ceremony on April 1 of the Malbork airbase in northeastern Poland.
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