Good.
So very...
Good day.
Good day.
I hope you will forgive me for spending Sunday afternoon with me, but we have very serious matters and there is no reason to postpone today's meeting and the information from your side, because as we expected, as I have informed you many times, the escalation of actions by the Russian Federation is increasingly becoming a fact, and its examples are getting closer to our border.
Information, both our own and thanks to our services, but also from allied services, has been directed to me in recent days about a possible further escalation. As you know, the attack or attempt to paralyze border crossings is not the first event of this type. We had this in Moldova, but we knew that the Russian plan would include an attempt to disorganize, paralyze, and possibly also destroy Ukrainian border crossings. So this also concerns our country. I will ask the generals for a brief, concise report on the situation regarding the night events and the current situation at the border crossings.
We must be aware, and I address this to all of you, that from today we will effectively be operating in a very reinforced mode, because what we know and what can be expected is that the coming weeks and months will be a period of very intensified actions on the Russian side, and unfortunately we cannot rule out that this escalation will also concern our territory. I hope not. I hope that the worst-case scenario will not materialize, but unfortunately, the events so far confirm the information we have been receiving for many months that even the worse variants are possible.
I will also want, and here I will ask for information from the services, that we are able to verify one-to-one all the information we receive, especially in alarm mode at night. This is not only a matter of the government security center and passing information to residents, but also very important from the point of view of both the army and the government is that every piece of information that appears in the space — and I'm not talking about an incoming missile, because that's the army's job — but information from the Ukrainian side, the Russian side, or any other, because I would like us to have the full ability to verify and confirm this information, so that we do not make any mistake when our urgent reaction is needed.
I spoke a moment ago with Minister Sikorski. He is just returning from Kyiv to Warsaw. I hope he arrives safely in Warsaw. We will also think together about how to mobilize our allies. We do not want to fall into any nervous mood, and emotions are least advisable here, but there is no doubt that we must be prepared together with our allies for a joint reaction, if such a need arises.
These attacks tonight indicate that the Russians are ready to use more dangerous equipment than before. I'm talking about jet drones. Their range, their precision, are concerning. Of course, Ukraine, which is very well prepared to defend against drones, is also not 100% effective. To put it delicately, Minister Tomczyk informed me that a total of 13 locations on the Ukrainian side were hit.
So we must be aware that Russia has such capabilities, and that is why I will also be waiting for information on how we are prepared for the possible use of drones to disorganize us, whether at railway operations or at workplaces, because I do not rule out that such situations could also occur. I hope not, but only our maximum preparation is the best guarantee that no dramatic things will happen.
So I would now give the floor to General Bagan. Please give a brief report on the situation at the border crossings with Ukraine, and later General Chojnacki will give a coherent report on what happened at night from the military point of view. Please go ahead.
Mr. Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday from 2:00 PM there were alternating interruptions in border control at the border crossings with Ukraine on the Ukrainian side due to the threat of attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles. And practically throughout the day and all night, this traffic was being resumed and suspended. And we, as the Border Guard, naturally adapted to the conditions on the Ukrainian side. So at our border crossings as well, when the Ukrainian side suspended traffic, the traffic was suspended; when the Ukrainian side carried out border control, we also carried out control.
At around 4:10 AM, a drone attack occurred on a gas station about 2 km from the border crossing in Dorohusk. The explosion was so strong that the windows at the post on our side shook.
An evacuation of the border crossing was immediately announced. We had these scenarios prepared earlier, so the whole system worked. 25 Border Guard officers and 25 customs and tax administration officers were evacuated from the post in Dorohusk. The remaining part of the crossing staff, that is, phytosanitary and veterinary services, totaling about 78 people, plus additionally over 280 people were evacuated from the crossing area to minimize the threat to their lives and health. This included five buses full of passengers, and these buses were also transported outside the crossing area.
As for our personnel, they took shelter in hiding places that had been previously identified, so there was no threat to the lives and health of these people. At approximately the same time, we received information that an unidentified object was also heading towards the Hrebenne border crossing, and during the receipt of this information, a decision was also made to evacuate the crossing, and in this case as well, over 300 people were evacuated from our personnel and the National Revenue Administration personnel — 66 people — plus over 280 people from the crossing area, regarding travelers. Travelers were evacuated outside the crossing area to minimize the potential effects of a drone strike as much as possible. Meanwhile, our personnel took shelter in previously identified rooms suitable for hiding.
And here, after consultation with the command and guidance center of the armed forces, a decision was made to have as few people as possible stay in these hiding rooms, because the threat was not confirmed by the military, so there was no actual attack directed at the border crossing.
At Hrebenne, at around 8:27 AM, another strike occurred on the Ukrainian side on a railway siding, and from our information obtained from the Ukrainian side, it appears that a drone — sorry, a drone — struck the locomotive of a freight train. The train consisted of empty tank cars. So these are the information we obtained from the neighboring side. I know that other information appeared in the media. Here we are not able to 100% confirm which information is true.
Mr. Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, currently the situation at the border crossings is under control, traffic is proceeding normally. We are not detecting any threats at this moment. Thank you. Would colleagues from the Nadbużański branch like to add anything from the last moment? General, if you would allow.
The situation, as the commander presented. Of course, yes. And indeed, after the information when a bomb exploded at the Moldovan-Ukrainian crossing, we observed frequent occurrences of border traffic suspension from the Ukrainian side. The information about the situation on the Moldovan-Ukrainian border occurred on the 9th and 10th; we already had three requests to suspend border control in Dorohusk, two in Zosin. On the 11th, we had one request to suspend border control in Dorohusk. On the 12th, we had two requests in Dorohusk and two in Hrubieszów.
Indeed, regarding the preparation of the crossings, taking into account the order of the Chief Commander and the crisis management plans of the voivode within the critical infrastructure framework, where the crossings operate, we took basic measures to ensure the safety of both officers and travelers. The commanders of the border crossings received orders to issue helmets and vests at control posts upon the announcement of an alarm. They are 100% available for the officers. We identified hiding places. These places at the border crossings are somewhat adapted from possible locations that can be used. They are simply basements, because we do not have other infrastructure there, but it seems to us that these are relatively safe places.
We established procedures for border crossing operations in two aspects. First, when the Ukrainian side reports an alarm and we see neither our own nor Ukrainian towers, and we do not see flying objects that could pose a threat, we suspend border control at the request of the Ukrainian side. And the second, more alarming variant, when after the Ukrainian request to suspend traffic, we see on Ukrainian applications — R Alert — indeed flying objects, and ODN confirms objects in the area approaching the border crossing area. In that case, the commanders have orders to move buses outside the border crossing area so as not to create a threat to people at the border crossing.
Additionally, people at the crossing — in heavy traffic we have a problem, because trucks are unable to turn around and we are unable to evacuate them quickly enough. In that case, there is information for travelers to go together with officers and other services to hiding places in the border crossing area.
Regarding the effectiveness of these solutions, they worked 100% both at Hrebenne and Dorohusk. Earlier, of course, before this, we met with all services at the border crossings, familiarizing them with the locations of this deployment. With the customs service, we agreed on the possibility of moving buses outside the crossing and completing border control either outside the crossing or returning to the border crossing. So this element worked for us.
And a very important element that would be worth considering is the issue of border security. Those who are at the crossing after evacuation can go down to hiding places within the framework of the evacuation. However, on the state border line where we have border posts and at the posts at the entrance to the border crossing, it would be advisable to leave officers. And here with the Chief Commander we discussed whether the military could quickly implement so-called HESCO bastions. These are large sand-filled shelters where the officer would have the possibility to observe the state border line, but also take shelter in these places, and that would be a very good solution.
Regarding crisis management, it is a matter of, upon receiving information about an alarm, disseminating that information. We have radios, but customs agencies and other services that do not have direct communication are not able to receive the information quickly enough if the time is very short. We came up with a temporary solution of ours to use loudspeakers in service vehicles to announce the alarm, but this is a target solution. It would be good — we will discuss with the voivode — to at least temporarily, until there is a central system, perhaps also operating at the crossing, to purchase loudspeakers that would allow us to announce alarms within the border crossings.
And of course, a very good option here is also cooperation with the police, because it must be said that at the end of the week we always have very large queues of trucks waiting to leave Poland. And taking into account Hrebenne and Dorohusk, there are deliveries. Therefore, a very large number of ADR vehicles with fuels. Therefore, it would seem that it should be considered the possibility of moving these ADR vehicles, which pose a very real threat if something related to an explosion were to happen, to try to move these vehicles out of the queue carefully to a safer place. We made such an attempt today in Dorohusk. The police, very nicely with our patrols, moved these vehicles out from in front of the crossing, a little bit into the country, to minimize the risk if some drone were to circle around in our areas.
Mr. Minister, Mr. Prime Minister, I report briefly our needs and the current situation, and these evacuation solutions seem to be a very good solution on the spot. Thank you very much.
We will return to this cooperation with the military and to your needs. General, please give the information. Chief of Staff of the Operational Command. Please go ahead.
