WARSAW - Global pulse News
  • Poland reestablishes constraints on accessing locations along Belarus border due to migration pressure

    Poland reestablishes constraints on accessing locations along Belarus border due to migration pressure

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland on Thursday reestablished constraints on motion along parts of the border with Belarus since of increased migration pressure that has actually included violence versus Polish security authorities.

    The restriction working Thursday will stand for 90 days and impacts 60 kilometers (37 miles) of the land border in between NATO member Poland and Belarus, an autocratic state lined up with Russia. The border in between Poland and Belarus runs for about 400 kilometers (250 miles).

    The federal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk states that the function of the so-called buffer zone is to guarantee the security of outsiders, in addition to the border guards, soldiers and authorities who operate in the location. It likewise states it looks for to restrict the activities of human smugglers who have actually been assisting in irregular migration at that border.

    Citizens and those working or studying in the location will have the ability to access the border locations, however others will need licenses.

    Refugee rights activists are dissatisfied with the choice since they state it will avoid them from reaching the location to assist migrants who cross the border and require medical or other support.

    Because 2021 EU authorities have actually implicated authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of weaponizing migration by enticing individuals to his nation to discover a simpler entry point into the bloc than the more harmful paths throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

    Poland’s previous federal government responded to the arrival of migrants by constructing a steel barrier and enforcing a state of emergency situation in 2021 which had actually given that ended.

    The variety of tried prohibited border crossings from Belarus into EU-member Poland has actually once again been growing just recently and Polish authorities state they are seeing aggressive habits by some migrants on the Belarus side of the border. They have actually published online videos revealing migrants tossing rocks, logs and even burning wood at the Polish soldiers from behind the fence. One Polish soldier was fatally stabbed by a migrant in late Might and was put to rest on Wednesday.

  • Polish leaders look for clearness on detention of soldiers who fired cautioning shots under migrant pressure

    Polish leaders look for clearness on detention of soldiers who fired cautioning shots under migrant pressure

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s President Andrzej Duda called it stunning and the minister of defense required descriptions Thursday after it emerged that 3 soldiers were handcuffed and apprehended by Polish military cops in March for having actually fired cautioning shots when confronted with an advancing group of migrants on the border with Belarus.

    The circumstance at the European Union’s eastern border is progressively tense under pressure from countless individuals from the Middle East, Asia and Africa attempting to require the metal barrier that Poland set up in 2022 to seal the frontier, which is patrolled by Polish army soldiers and border guards. Just recently, some officers needed healthcare facility treatment for knife and other injuries caused from behind the barrier.

    In March, military cops apprehended 3 soldiers after they apparently fired cautioning shots into the air and after that into the ground as they attempted to stop an advancing migrant group on Polish area. Nobody was hurt. Polish media report growing discontent amongst the military over the method their associates were dealt with.

    Federal government authorities state the detention was an extreme step offered the scenarios.

    “This is a stunning case, thinking about the reality that our soldiers were just recently consistently assaulted by assailants from the Belarus side,” Duda stated.

    Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated the military cops overreacted and required information from them and from the district attorneys who are examining. Among the soldiers apprehended has actually been cleared of the claims.

    “The soldiers at the border are performing an objective for the Polish state,” Kosiniak-Kamysz informed a press conference Thursday.

    “We are constantly on the side of the soldiers … of those who perform their jobs at the border,” he stated, including that soldiers, in charge of securing the border because 2022, have actually utilized weapons in emergency situation scenarios some 700 times.

    Poland and the EU state migrant groups are arranged and assisted by Russia and its ally Belarus to destabilize Europe. Their pressure heightened this spring, ahead of essential elections to the European Parliament.

  • Poland has actually detained 18 individuals on claims of preparing hostile act upon behalf of Russia, Belarus

    Poland has actually detained 18 individuals on claims of preparing hostile act upon behalf of Russia, Belarus

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has actually detained 18 individuals on claims of pursuing hostile activities or preparing sabotage on behalf of Russia and Belarus, consisting of strategies to assassinate Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the interior minister stated Monday.

    10 of those detained considering that December were straight associated with preparing numerous kinds of sabotage throughout Poland, Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak informed a press conference.

    Polish authorities have actually connected some current arsons or tried arsons to Russian-sponsored representatives. Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian nationals are amongst those detained in current months, according to the Internal Security Company’s communiques.

    A Polish male was detained in April on claims of being all set to spy for Russia’s military intelligence in a supposed plot to assassinate Zelenskyy, Polish district attorneys have actually stated. The male was supposedly looking for contact with Russians straight associated with the war in Ukraine and was anticipated to hand down in-depth details about the tactical Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in southeastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine.

    Siemoniak stated that acts of sabotage were obviously part of a larger strategy that likewise consists of cyberattacks,pressing migrants in Belarus to cross into Poland, and threatening the security of the nation that has actually been supporting Ukraine in warding off Russia’s major intrusion.

    “We believe that on the bidding of a foreign nation, Russia, there are some individuals active who are all set to threaten the life, health and residential or commercial property of the Polish residents,” Siemoniak stated.

  • Poland’s foreign minister states it must not leave out the possibility of sending out soldiers to Ukraine

    Poland’s foreign minister states it must not leave out the possibility of sending out soldiers to Ukraine

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s foreign minister states the NATO country must not leave out the possibility of sending out soldiers to Ukraine and must keep Russian President Vladimir Putin in thriller over whether such a choice would ever be made.

    Radek Sikorski made the remarks in an interview released Tuesday in the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

    “We must not leave out any choice. Let Putin be thinking regarding what we will do,” Sikorski stated when asked whether he would send out Polish soldiers to Ukraine.

    Sikorski stated he has actually gone to Ukraine with his household to provide humanitarian help.

    However a representative for Poland’s Defense Ministry, Janusz Sejmej, informed Polish media on Tuesday he had “no understanding of that” when inquired about a report in Germany’s Der Spiegel publication recommending Poland may send out soldiers to Ukraine.

    The concept of sending out foreign soldiers to Ukraine, which is fighting Russian military aggressiveness, was drifted previously this year in France, however no nation, consisting of Poland, has actually openly accepted it.

    Poland supports surrounding Ukraine politically and by offering military devices and humanitarian help.

  • Poland eyes strongholds on its border with Belarus

    Poland eyes strongholds on its border with Belarus

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Defense authorities in NATO member Poland provided intend on Monday for strengthening its eastern border with Moscow ally Belarus.

    The federal government states that Poland, which supports Ukraine in its defense versus Russia’s aggressiveness, is being targeted by hostile actions from Russia and Belarus. They consist of cyberattacks, tried arson and migrants being pressed unlawfully throughout the border, which authorities refer to as planned to destabilize the European Union, of which Poland is a member.

    The federal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk has actually prepared a series of security procedures consisting of in the online world, along with some $2.5 billion financial investment into eastern border security, called Shield-East. He stated recently that deal with the guard has actually started.

    Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and the militaries chief of personnel, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, exist the information of the border defense improvement, consisting of modern-day blockades, strongholds and monitoring that look for to prevent any prospective assailant.

    The Defense Ministry states the system will be a component of local defense facilities constructed collectively with the Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — that are likewise on NATO’s eastern flank.

    Shield-East will “considerably reinforce the country’s strength to military dangers from the east, it will restrict the movement of the enemy’s soldiers while using a higher flexibility of action and survival to our own soldiers and to civilians,” the ministry stated.

    Poland’s previous conservative federal government constructed a $400 million wall on the border with Belarus to stop an enormous inflow of migrants that started to be pressed from that instructions in 2021. The existing pro-EU federal government states it requires to be enhanced.

    The 3 Baltic states were as soon as part of the Soviet Union, while Poland was a satellite state of the USSR before the 1990s. Moscow still relates to the location as within its sphere of interests.

  • Poland arrests screw up suspects and alerts of possible hostile acts by Russia

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated Tuesday that 3 individuals were just recently apprehended on suspicion of links to foreign-sponsored sabotage, contributing to 9 others currently under arrest.

    Tusk was speaking at a weekly press conference about what actions his federal government was requiring to secure Poland versus hostile activity, consisting of occurrences with presumed links to Russian intelligence services.

    “Another 3 individuals were apprehended” on Monday night, Tusk stated, as he applauded the effectiveness of Poland’s nationwide security services. That brings the variety of those under arrest to 12.

    On Monday, Tusk stated that 9 individuals have actually been imprisoned on claims of having actually “engaged themselves straight into acts of sabotage in Poland, on commission from Russian (intelligence) services” and explained them as “worked with individuals, often from the criminal world, and nationals of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.”

    He explained these function as “whippings, arson and tried arson.”

    He stated that likewise other countries in the area, specifically Lithuania and Latvia, were threatened by sabotage and justification.

    The 2 nations, in addition to Estonia, remain in the Baltics, an area that next-door neighbors Russia. The 3 Baltic states were when part of the Soviet Union, while Poland was a satellite state of the USSR before the 1990s. Moscow still relates to the location as within its sphere of interests.

    Nevertheless, Poland and the Baltic nations all support Ukraine in its efforts to push back Russia’s major intrusion.

    Arrests were made recently in Lithuania following a fire at an IKEA storage facility in Vilnius, which was thought to be arson. Tusk has stated the suspects might likewise be connected to screw up in Poland, while a tried factory arson early this year in Wroclaw, in the southwest, was “without doubt” the doing of Russia’s secret services. That link was likewise being examined in a current fire of a significant shopping center in Warsaw.

    Russian authorities didn’t right away discuss the allegations, and they regularly reject such claims.

    Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Tuesday appealed for individuals to stay alert to acts of sabotage in the face of the existing political scenarios.

    “Regrettably, we know that such acts of sabotage can occur once again,” Nauseda informed public radio LRT.

    “When our challengers, our opponents (…) will attempt to destabilize our internal political scenario, we need to do whatever we can to avoid them from doing so,” he stated.

    ___

    Jan M. Olsen added to this report from Copenhagen, Denmark.

  • Shopping complex fire inflicts tragedy on Vietnamese community in Poland

    Shopping complex fire inflicts tragedy on Vietnamese community in Poland

    Nguyen Van Son struggled to hold back tears as he stood outside the vast burnt carcass of a shopping complex that was engulfed in flames three days earlier in Warsaw.

    The 42-year-old Vietnamese trader had his entire livelihood inside — unsold clothing in three shops, equipment in two nail salons and a large sum of cash in his office. All, he presumes, consumed in the fire that broke out before dawn on Sunday and spread fast.

    The fire destroyed the Marywilska 44 shopping center, home to some 1,400 shops or services in an industrial area on Warsaw’s northern edge. Hundreds of the businesses there were run by people from Vietnam.

    “It all burned, I don’t have money in my pocket,” Nguyen, who moved to Poland from Vietnam 18 years ago, said on Wednesday outside the burnt structure. He estimated his loss at 2 million Polish zlotys ($500,000).

    “I don’t have work now,” he added. “I don’t know how my life will go on.”

    An association of Vietnamese entrepreneurs described the blaze as a “terrible tragedy” for the Vietnamese community in Poland. The community represents the largest non-European immigrant population in Poland. The Vietnam Embassy in Warsaw told the AP that it estimates the population at between 20,000 and 30,000.

    People gathered at the wreck of the shopping complex Wednesday described losing passports and other important documents in the flames in addition to huge sums of cash. They said they felt it was safer to keep them in their place of work, where they spent the majority of their time, and not their private homes due to a fear of break-ins. One woman said she and others faced obstacles opening bank accounts. Many of those affected did not want to be interviewed, or were not able to express themselves in Polish or English.

    There were no reports of injuries in the fire, which began around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Prosecutors opened an investigation on Monday. Some, including Poland’s political leaders, have raised questions about the causes of the fire.

    The fire was one in a string of blazes in Poland in recent days that also included fires in an apartment building and at a landfill in Warsaw and at a chemical waste landfill in the far south of the country.

    “It is difficult not to have a suspicion or fear that the series of fires that took place in Poland is not accidental, but is an attempt to destabilize the situation in Poland by external factors,” President Andrzej Duda said on Tuesday.

    Prime Minister Donald Tusk said there was “no reason to believe that any of the recent fires were the result of external forces. But this in no way reduces the threat of possible sabotage and diversion.”

    Last fall a fire broke out in another center of Vietnamese trade in Wolka Kosowska, a town near Warsaw.

    On Wednesday, Vietnamese merchants approached security guards seeking information about when they might be able to access the site to see if there is anything to salvage. They didn’t get answers, and were told the site remained potentially dangerous. All hoped that officials could help cover some of their losses.

    Some received food donations, including big bags of rice, and hygiene products provided by charitable foundations.

    One vendor who turned up at the scene of the fire on Wednesday was 28-year-old Lena Ninh, who has lived in Poland for 15 years.

    Her parents called her Sunday afternoon with news that the hall was burning. She was shocked at how fast it spread.

    “In a matter of a few hours we lost everything — our wealth, our life’s work. Now thousands of people are out of work,” she said. “We have no plan yet, we have no direction for how to live now to support the family.”

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  • Polish activists criticize Tusk’s government for tough border policies and migrant pushbacks

    Polish activists criticize Tusk’s government for tough border policies and migrant pushbacks

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Refugee rights activists on Monday criticized Poland’s pro-European Union government for plans to tighten security at the border with Belarus and for continuing a policy initiated by predecessors of pushing migrants back across the border there.

    The activists organized an online news conference after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk made his first visit to the border area since he took office in December. Tusk met Saturday in that eastern region with border guards, soldiers and police, and vowed that Poland would spare no expense to strengthen security.

    Tusk said Belarus was escalating a “hybrid war” against the EU, using migrants to put pressure on the border. He cited Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as another reason for further fortifying the border between NATO member Poland and Belarus, a repressive state allied with Russia.

    “During the press conference, he didn’t mention people or human lives at all,” said Anna Alboth with Grupa Granica, a Polish group that has been helping migrants in eastern Poland.

    Migrants, most of them from the Middle East and Africa, began arriving in 2021 to the border, which is part of the EU’s external frontier as they seek entry into the bloc. Polish authorities attempted to keep them out, pushing them back, something activists say violates international law.

    EU authorities accused authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of luring migrants there to create a migration crisis that would destabilize the EU. Once the new route opened, many other migrants continued to follow the path, finding it an easier entry point than more dangerous routes across the Mediterranean Sea.

    It is “probably the safest, cheapest and fastest way to Europe,” Alboth said.

    Still, some migrants have died, with some buried in Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Poland. Bartek Rumienczyk, another activist with Grupa Granica, said the group knows of more than 60 deaths of migrants who have died since 2021.

    “But we are all aware that the number is probably way higher,” he said.

    Poland’s previous populist government, which clashed with the EU over rule of law issues, built the steel wall that runs along the 187 kilometers (116 miles) of land border between Poland and Belarus. The Bug River separates the countries along part of the border.

    Poland’s former government, led by the Law and Justice party, was strongly anti-migrant and constructed the wall and launched a policy of pushing irregular migrants back across the border.

    Activists hoped that the policy would change under Tusk, who is more socially liberal and shuns language denigrating migrants and refugees. However, he is also taking a strong stance against irregular migration.

    The activists say it’s harder for them to get their message out now because of the popularity and respect that Tusk enjoys abroad.

    “Thanks to the fact that the government changed into a better government, it’s also much more difficult to talk about what is happening,” she said. “People have no idea that pushbacks are still happening.”

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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  • Kosovo backs Ukraine even though Kyiv has not recognized its independence, foreign minister says

    Kosovo backs Ukraine even though Kyiv has not recognized its independence, foreign minister says

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Kosovo’s foreign minister said Wednesday that her country is convinced that Russia must lose the war in Ukraine for conflict not to spread further in Europe. She said her young nation’s support for Ukraine is unconditional even though Kyiv has not recognized Kosovo’s independence.

    Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz, who is both foreign minister and deputy prime minister, said her small Balkan nation, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, is constantly reminded of the aggressive intentions of both Serbia and its ally Russia.

    “Ukraine hasn’t recognized the Republic of Kosovo as a state, but we really believe that we know exactly what Ukraine is going through,” she told The Associated Press in an interview.

    “And we know that there is only one solution, not only for Ukraine, but for Europe,” she said. “It can only be Russia to lose the war and Ukraine to win this war. Otherwise, Europe should prepare for other conflicts in our continent.”

    Like Ukrainians today, the people of Kosovo were the targets of war crimes and other atrocities by Serbia’s security forces in the 1990s, an experience that led Kosovo to seek independence.

    “While Kosovo is a small state with very modest possibilities to help, we have tried to be very helpful with Ukraine and have not hesitated to show our unconditional support and sympathy to the people and to the state of Ukraine,” Gërvalla-Schwarz told the AP.

    The latest reminder of Moscow threatening Kosovo came this week when a Russian Telegram channel called for a denial-of-service attack on Kosovo government websites after Kosovo’s defense minister announced new military aid for Ukraine at a conference in Warsaw on Tuesday.

    Gërvalla-Schwarz on Wednesday inaugurated Kosovo’s first consular mission in Poland, part of an effort to improve economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries. Poland recognized Kosovo’s statehood in 2008 but the two countries did not establish diplomatic relations at the time. For now the Kosovo mission has the status of a consulate general, but she said she hopes it could be a step to having an embassy in Poland.

    Her visit to Poland this week coincided with a visit to the capital of Serbia, Belgrade, by Chinese President Xi Jinping which included pledges to deepen ties.

    Gërvalla-Schwarz said the Chinese leader’s visit has implications for Europe because it shows that while Serbia is a European Union candidate state, it is “more and more identifying itself with the adversaries of the European Western democracies.”

    “You cannot be at the same time a candidate state of the European Union and be the proxy of Russia in these times where Russia has declared the war not only to Ukraine but to the West as such,” she said.

    Serbian forces fought a 1998-99 war with ethnic Albanian separatists in what was then the province of Kosovo. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died until a 78-day NATO bombing campaign pushed Serbian forces out.

    Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but the government in Belgrade doesn’t recognize its neighbor as a separate country.

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  • Poland’s prosecutor general says previous government used spyware against hundreds of people

    Poland’s prosecutor general says previous government used spyware against hundreds of people

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s prosecutor general told the parliament on Wednesday that powerful Pegasus spyware was used against hundreds of people under the former government in Poland, among them elected officials.

    Adam Bodnar told lawmakers that he found the scale of the surveillance “shocking and depressing.”

    “It is sad for me that even in this room I am speaking to people who were victims of this system,” Bodnar told the Sejm, the lower house of parliament.

    Bodnar, who is also the justice minister, did not specify who exactly was subject to surveillance by the spyware. His office said the information was confidential.

    Bodnar was presenting information that the prosecutor general’s office sent last week to the Sejm and Senate. The data showed that Pegasus was used in the cases of 578 people from 2017 to 2022, and that it was used by three separate government agencies: the Central Anticorruption Bureau, the Military Counterintelligence Service and the Internal Security Agency.

    He said that the software generated “enormous knowledge” about the “private and professional lives” of those put under surveillance.

    Pegasus, produced by Israeli company NSO Group, has been sold to governments and is described as a tool to fight criminals and terrorists. However evidence has emerged that some governments have used it against political opponents, journalists and human rights workers.

    The spyware gives its operators complete access to a mobile device, allowing them to extract passwords, photos, messages, contacts and browsing history and activate the microphone and camera for real-time eavesdropping.

    Its use in Poland under the previous government, led by the Law and Justice party, resulted in accusations that the authorities were abusing power and eroding democratic guardrails.

    Investigations into the use of the powerful spyware were launched after Prime Minister Donald Tusk took office in December as the head of a three-party pro-European Union coalition.

    The investigations into Pegasus use are part of a larger effort by Tusk and Bodnar to restore democratic norms which they believe were eroded by the Law and Justice government, which held power from 2015 to 2023.

    “The use of Pegasus over these few years has poisoned the essence of democracy in Poland,” Marcin Bosacki, a lawmaker with Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition told lawmakers after Bodnar’s presentation.

    Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of Law and Justice, said last month during testimony to an investigative commission that the “use of Pegasus was in accordance with the law,” and that in 99% of the cases it was used against criminals.

    The minister currently in charge of the security services, Tomasz Siemoniak, said earlier this month in an interview on the private broadcaster TVN24 that while the use of Pegasus in Poland was “justified” in some cases of suspected terrorism and for counterintelligence use, in “too many cases” it was not justified.

    Siemoniak said the unjustified use of the software resulted in Poland losing its license for using it.

    Bodnar is also working to address the issue of judicial independence after the previous government overhauled the justice system to gain more control over courts.

    The practices of Law and Justice prompted the European Union to withhold billions of euros in funding — money that is now flowing after a change of government.

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  • Polish defense leaders push ‘dronization’ of the armed forces

    Polish defense leaders push ‘dronization’ of the armed forces

    WARSAW, Poland — Polish defense leaders plan to embed drone capabilities into all levels of the armed forces, building a new military component devoted to unmanned aircraft and speeding up their acquisition.

    The envisioned transformation comes after studying the lessons gleaned from Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine and Kyiv’s ensuing defensive operations, now in their third year.

    “Unmanned systems allow to gain advantage at relatively low costs,” a spokesperson for the National Ministry of Defense told Defense News. “The ministry will intensify the dronization process of the Polish military in specific areas of their use: reconnaissance, combat, and support.”

    That means even small formations of soldiers will have access to an arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, the official explained. “Experience with the use of drones across our eastern border [with Ukraine] indicates the validity of their use at the lowest levels of command, so that, for instance, a platoon commander could have reconnaissance UAVs at their disposal, and be able to hit close targets with UAVs or use so-called ‘kamikaze’ drones.”

    Observations from the war in Ukraine also have prompted Polish plans to launch a new military component, the Drone Forces, according to Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence.

    Speaking earlier this year at a session of the National Defence Committee of the Sejm, the parliament’s lower chamber, Kosiniak-Kamysz described the envisioned organization as a “separate component at operational level.” The idea came from Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, the chief of the General Staff, he said.

    Amid those plans, buying and fielding new drones is a priority for officials here, with ongoing acquisitions to be accelerated.

    The Polish military has acquired various types of UAVs over the past years. These include Bayraktar TB2 drones equipped with anti-tank missiles. Warsaw ordered 24 such drones from Turkish manufacturer Baykar in 2021, and their deliveries began in 2022.

    “The last of the four sets [ordered from Baykar] is currently in the process of being transferred to the armed forces,” the defense spokesperson said.

    Poland is also negotiating the acquisition of MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones from General Atomics, following a period of leasing the MQ-9A Reaper model. The potential purchase of an undisclosed number of aircraft is poised to make the nation’s armed forces the first military on NATO’s eastern flank to buy the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV.

    Asked by Defense News about the program, the spokesperson would only confirm that “there is a plan to purchase MQ-9B unmanned reconnaissance and strike systems.”

    “Looking at the next programs, as part of the Zefir program, we intend to acquire MALE-class unmanned aerial systems,” the spokesperson said, noting that a separate effort is ongoing under the Gryf program to field a shorter-range variant. For the Polish Navy, a separate effort exists to buy rotorcraft drones under the Albatros program.

    Polish privately-owned defense company WB Group has supplied two types of drones to the country’s military: FlyEye mini UAVs, which are used for reconnaissance, artillery guidance, search and rescue, but also to extend the range of battle management systems; and Warmate drones, which combine reconnaissance capacities and combat capabilities as loitering munition.

    While orders placed with foreign UAV manufacturers and privately-owned Polish drone makers have allowed Poland to gain new capabilities, the troubled UAV contract the previous government awarded to state-owned PGZ in 2018 has become a model example of inefficient procurement, local observers say.

    Under the deal, a consortium of state-owned defense companies was to deliver 30 short-range reconnaissance Orlik drones for about 790 million zloty ($200 million). Since then, numerous annexes were added to the contract to extend the delivery schedule.

    Kosiniak-Kamysz said that he expects PGZ to immediately come through with the work. “The military has lost patience in this matter,” he said. “In 2021, those drones were to be delivered, and they have not been delivered to date,” he said said April 5.

    The coming months will demonstrate how PGZ’s new management intends to tackle the problematic drone contract. Last month, Krzysztof Trofiniak was named as the company’s new chief executive. A seasoned defense industry manager, Trofiniak’s track record includes serving as the president of local defense company Huta Stalowa Wola and as vice president of PGZ. His return to the defense giant was facilitated by the October 2023 election in which a new coalition government was sworn in, ousting the right-wing Law and Justice party from power after eight years of rule.

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  • Poland’s local elections test Tusk’s new government after 4 months in power

    Poland’s local elections test Tusk’s new government after 4 months in power

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Voters across Poland are casting ballots in local elections Sunday in the first electoral test for the coalition government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk nearly four months since it took power.

    Voters will elect mayors as well as members of municipal councils and provincial assemblies, an important exercise in self-governance that is one of the great achievements of the democratic transformation that Poland made when it threw off communism 35 years ago.

    In all there are nearly 190,000 registered candidates running for local government positions in the central European nation of 38 million people.

    Runoff votes will must take place two weeks later, on April 21, in cases where mayoral candidates do not win at least 50% of the vote in Sunday’s first round.

    Opinion polls released in the days ahead of the vote showed the two largest political formations running neck-and-neck: Tusk’s Civic Coalition, an electoral coalition led by his centrist and pro-European Union Civic Platform party, and Law and Justice, a national conservative party that governed the country from 2015 until last year.

    Several other groups trail the two main groups, including the Third Way coalition, the Left and the radical right-wing Confederation party.

    Tusk’s coalition government, which includes the Third Way and the Left, together won the national election in October. The result amid record turnout spelled the end for eight bumpy years of rule by Law and Justice, which was accused by the European Union of violating democratic standards with its changes to the judicial system and public media.

    Tusk won on promises to reverse many of those changes and is trying to implement that program, but it isn’t easy. His attempts to restore independence to the judicial system are a long process that will require the passage of new legislation.

    And a promise to liberalize the strict abortion law is being hampered by conservatives in Tusk’s own coalition.

    The vote is also a test for Law and Justice, which had a string of electoral victories and dominated the political scene for years, enjoying strong support in conservative rural areas. However, its hard-line policies on LGBTQ+ and its restriction of abortion rights were rejected by many of the young and female voters who turned out in October to vote.

    Local governments have played an important role in the two major crises of recent years, rolling out vaccinations against COVID-19 and helping the huge numbers of Ukrainian refugees who arrived in the country after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

    Among those running is Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, a Tusk ally who is seeking a second term. He is favored to win, but it is not clear if he could win outright Sunday or would need to face a runoff in two weeks.

    The outgoing term of office for local officials was the longest since 1989 after Law and Justice extended it from four to five years, and then delayed the elections by half a year, worried that holding local elections along with those to the national parliament would hurt its chances.

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  • Israeli ambassador, summoned by Poland in protest, apologizes for death of Polish aid worker

    Israeli ambassador, summoned by Poland in protest, apologizes for death of Polish aid worker

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s deputy foreign minister handed a diplomatic note on Friday to Israel’s ambassador protesting the killing of a Polish aid worker in an attack earlier this week on a convoy of aid workers in Gaza.

    After the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna told reporters in Warsaw that he handed the protest note to Ambassador Yacov Livne after he was summoned because of the deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers.

    Szejna described the Polish stance during the meeting as “firm.”

    “At the beginning, the ambassador apologized for this unprecedented event in the history of the civilized world, that is the bombing of a car in a humanitarian convoy heading with humanitarian aid to the famine-affected Gaza Strip,” Szejna said.

    Livne said on social media that during the meeting he expressed his “personal deep sorrow and sincere apologies” for the deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers, including Polish citizen Damian Soból.

    “We share in the grief of the families from the bottom of our hearts. I assured the Deputy Minister that Israel is fully committed to a transparent and thorough investigation of this grave tragedy,” Livne said.

    He said findings from the Israeli military published Friday “show our ongoing commitment to investigate what had happened in Gaza and take all appropriate measures to prevent such tragedies in the future.”

    The Israeli military said Friday that it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.

    Szejna, who spoke to reporters before the dismissals were reported, said Poland expected a transparent investigation and compensation for the victim’s family if it wants it.

    He also said Poland wants the district prosecutor’s office in Przemyśl, where the Polish aid worker was from, to be allowed to participate in the investigation “and in the entire criminal and disciplinary procedure against the soldiers responsible for this murder.”

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  • Diplomatic crisis erupts between Poland and Israel following killing of Polish aid worker in Gaza

    Diplomatic crisis erupts between Poland and Israel following killing of Polish aid worker in Gaza

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A new diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel has erupted following the death of a Polish aid worker in Gaza, with the Polish president on Thursday denouncing a comment by the Israeli ambassador as “outrageous” and the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw saying it was summoning him for a meeting.

    A 35-year-old Polish man was among seven people who were killed while delivering food to besieged Palestinians with the charity World Central Kitchen. Israel has called the incident a “mistake” that followed a misidentification. The charity said its vehicles were clearly marked.

    Amid shock in Poland over the death of the charity worker, Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, pushed back at what he said were attempts by the “extreme right and left in Poland” to accuse Israel of “intentional murder in the attack.”

    He said on social media on Tuesday that “anti-Semites will always remain anti-Semites, and Israel will remain a democratic Jewish state that fights for its right to exist. Also for the good of the entire Western world.”

    Polish President Andrzej Duda on Thursday called the comment “outrageous” and described the ambassador as “the biggest problem for the state of Israel in relations with Poland.”

    Duda said authorities in Israel have spoken about the tragedy “in a very subdued way,” but added, “Unfortunately, their ambassador to Poland is not able to maintain such delicacy and sensitivity, which is unacceptable.”

    Prime Minister Donald Tusk, while a political opponent of Duda’s, voiced a similar position.

    He said Thursday that the comment was unacceptable and had offended Poles, and said that the ambassador should apologize.

    The deputy foreign minister was quoted in the Polish media as saying that Livne was summoned to a meeting on Friday morning.

    A day earlier, Tusk published a comment on social media addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Livne saying that “the vast majority of Poles showed full solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack. Today you are putting this solidarity to a really hard test. The tragic attack on volunteers and your reaction arouse understandable anger.”

    Duda on Thursday also called for Israel to pay “appropriate compensation” to the family of the aid worker, Damian Soból.

    Sobó had been on an aid mission to Gaza for the past six months following work in Ukraine, Morocco and Turkey.

    Polish and Israeli relations have recently been on the mend after several difficult years.

    Ties were badly damaged due to disputes over how to remember Polish behavior during the Holocaust, when Nazi Germany occupied Poland and carried out the mass murder of Jews.

    For eight years until December, Poland had a nationalist government that played down Polish participation in the German killings of Jews and focused largely on Polish aid to Jews. Israel’s government believed that approach amounted to historical distortion.

    Israel also objected to a law that limited property restitution claims, something that affected the heirs of Polish Holocaust victims, and recalled its ambassador in 2021 before sending Livne the next year as ties improved.

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  • Poland and Ukraine leaders discuss regulating Ukrainian food imports to ease farmer discontent

    Poland and Ukraine leaders discuss regulating Ukrainian food imports to ease farmer discontent

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was in Poland on Thursday for talks with his counterpart Donald Tusk to address Polish and western European farmers’ demands that regulations be applied to the cheap Ukrainian food imports that they say are undercutting their livelihoods.

    Farmers in many countries have been staging vehement protests against the imports and tensions have grown between Kyiv and its staunch ally Warsaw over the tax-free inflow of Ukraine’s farm produce.

    Tusk has suggested that Poland, a NATO member and European Union country bordering Ukraine, will seek quotas on the imports during the talks. He has also suggested boosting imports to needy countries.

    The EU has opened its doors wide to Ukrainian farm produce to help the country’s exports after Russia’s 2022 invasion cut many traditional routes.

    However, EU lawmakers recently agreed that quotas could be reintroduced on some Ukrainian foods to address the European farmers’ complaints.

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