Poland's prime minister visits defensive fortifications on border with Russia

DABROWKA, Poland (AP) — Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk traveled Saturday to his country's border with the Russian region of Kaliningrad to inspect progress in the construction of military fortifications along the eastern frontier, calling it "an investment in peace."

Tusk’s visit comes a month before Poland is to take over the rotating presidency of the 27-member European Union. Polish officials say their priority is to urge Europeans to beef up defenses at a time of Russian aggression and with change coming soon in Washington. Some European leaders are concerned that the incoming administration of Donald Trump might be less committed to Europe’s defense.

Tusk also proposed this week that Poland and the Nordic and Baltic countries carry out joint navy patrols in the strategically important Baltic Sea, following the suspected sabotage of undersea data cables.

Poland's government and army began building the system dubbed East Shield this year. It will eventually include approximately 800 kilometers (500 miles) along the Polish borders with Russia and Belarus, at a time when Western officials accuse Russia of waging hybrid attacks against the West that include sabotage, the weaponization of migration, disinformation and other hostile measures.

“The better the Polish border is guarded, the more difficult it is to access for those with bad intentions,” Tusk said at a news conference near the village of Dabrowka as he stood in front of concrete anti-tank barriers.

Poland has been at the mercy of aggressive neighbors over the past centuries and has become a leading European voice for security at a time when France and Germany are weakened by internal political problems. Poland aims to spend 4.7% of its gross domestic product on defense next year, making it one of NATO's leaders in defense spending.

Tusk's government estimates that the strategic military project will cost at least 10 billion zlotys ($2.5 billion). Poland’s borders with Russia, Belarus — as well as Ukraine — are the easternmost external borders of both the European Union and NATO.

Tusk said he expected the East Shield to eventually be expanded to protect the small Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

“Everything we are doing here — and we will also be doing this on the border with Belarus and Ukraine — is to deter and discourage a potential aggressor, which is why it is truly an investment in peace," Tusk said. “We will spend billions of zlotys on this, but right now the whole of Europe is observing these investments and our actions with great satisfaction and will support them if necessary.”

Tusk did not elaborate on his plans for reinforcing the border with Ukraine, a close ally.

Along the frontier, anti-tank barriers known as “hedgehogs” will be integrated with natural barriers like ditches. Tusk said parts of the project are not visible to the naked eye, but it is nonetheless the largest project of its nature in Europe since the end of World War II.

The plans also include the construction of threat reconnaissance and detection systems, forward bases, logistics hubs, warehouses and the deployment of anti-drone systems, the state news agency PAP reported.

Gera reported from Warsaw.

Concrete barriers that are part of Poland's East Shield fortification at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Concrete barriers that are part of Poland's East Shield fortification at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A Polish soldier at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A Polish soldier at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Concrete barriers that are part of Poland's East Shield fortification at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A Polish soldier at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A Polish soldier at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Concrete barriers that are part of Poland's East Shield fortification at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Concrete barriers that are part of Poland's East Shield fortification at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Concrete barriers that are part of Poland's East Shield fortification at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks to reporters in Dabrowka, Poland, during a visit to Poland's border with Russia on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Concrete barriers that are part of Poland's East Shield fortification at Poland's border with Russia in Dabrowka, Poland, on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks to reporters in Dabrowka, Poland, during a visit to Poland's border with Russia on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, left, and Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson sign an agreement during Thursday's summit at Harpsund in Flen, Sweden, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed at least five people across Ukraine on Friday, including in a “massive” missile and drone attack near the capital, local authorities reported. Ukrainian officials claim the Kremlin is changing its tactics to increase civilian suffering, shifting to daytime barrages and preparing to target more key infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled Kyiv's openness to a potential Easter truce. The holiday is celebrated on April 12 in both Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is preparing for a shift in Russian aerial tactics, with intelligence indicating that future attacks will move beyond energy infrastructure.

In Russia, 192 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russia and occupied Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday morning.

“The Kyiv region is once again under a massive Russian missile and drone attack,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the regional military administration, in a Telegram post on Friday morning.

According to Kalashnyk, one person died and at least eight more were wounded in strikes on three of Kyiv’s satellite towns — Bucha, Fastiv and Obukhiv.

Another person was killed in Ukraine's northern Sumy region after a Russian guided aerial bomb struck an apartment block, local Gov. Oleh Hryhorov reported. Authorities in the Kherson, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions also reported casualties from Friday's attacks.

Ukrainian officials highlighted what they said were increased daytime attacks by Russia, which they said could lead to more civilian deaths. For months, Moscow pummeled Ukraine with nighttime missile and drone strikes that could involve hundreds of drones at a time.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, said in a post on X that “almost half a thousand drones and cruise missiles” attacked Ukraine overnight.

“This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals — with brutal attacks,” Sybiha said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday signaled Kyiv's continued openness to a potential truce on Easter, which falls next week according to the Julian calendar followed by Orthodox churches in Ukraine and Russia.

Zelenskyy told reporters that the proposal had been communicated to Moscow through U.S. channels. He added that the Kremlin's response remains unclear.

Zelenskyy has previously offered a ceasefire for the Easter period — but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that Moscow wants a lasting peace settlement, not a temporary truce.

President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire last Easter, but each side accused the other of breaking it.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia was increasingly striking the country during the day, an apparent departure from months of nighttime barrages.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation within Ukraine's defense ministry, said that the daytime strikes aimed to “increase civilian casualties.”

“That is why the combined attack is carried out on a working day, using a large number of drones and missiles,” Kovalenko wrote on Friday in a Telegram post.

Zelenskyy told reporters on Thursday that Ukraine is preparing for Russian aerial attacks that could target water systems, logistics and other critical networks. After months of sustained strikes on power facilities, Kyiv now expects increased pressure elsewhere.

“According to intelligence documents we have received, the Russians will target logistics – railways and other infrastructure. They will also target the water supply,” Zelenskyy said at a press briefing.

Elsewhere in Ukraine on Friday, a Russian drone strike damaged a passenger bus in the southern city of Kherson, leaving the driver seriously wounded and at least eight passengers hurt.

Regional government officials said several people were hospitalized, adding that the 51-year-old driver was being treated for head wounds and multiple fractures.

Separately, authorities reported sustained attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, beginning on Thursday and continuing into early Friday. Drone strikes near the city center caused several injuries. One man died of his wounds after being taken to a hospital, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote in a Telegram update.

According to the head of Kharkiv's Department of Emergency Situations, Bohdan Hladykh, Russia struck the city at least 20 times during the day on Thursday, using explosive drones.

Two people were hospitalized on Friday following a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's Leningrad region, over 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) from the border, regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko reported. According to Drozdenko, the drones also set fire to an “unoccupied” building within the Morozov industrial zone.

The settlement of Morozov houses a state-owned plant that makes explosives and components for ammunition, including solid fuel used in Topol-M missile systems. The plant was put under U.S., EU and other Western sanctions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Twelve people, including at least three Russian soldiers, were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike late Thursday on Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported. Separately, he said that seven people were wounded in the region after a drone struck a commercial facility.

Four drones were downed during the night on the approach to Moscow, mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported Friday. He did not reference any casualties or damage.

In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, Russian soldiers fire a grenade launcher towards Ukrainian positions on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)