EUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
Poland is deploying combat helicopters and increasing troop levels at its border with Belarus in response to what Warsaw claims was a violation of its airspace this week.
Poland’s Ministry of Defense said that two Belarusian helicopters training near the border violated Polish airspace in the eastern Bialowieza region. The U.S. Department of Defense characterized the incident as an “incursion into Polish airspace by Belarusian aircraft” in a statement Friday.
Polish troops are getting redeployed from the west to the eastern border, Poland’s Defense Minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, said. Helicopters from the 1st Aviation Brigade of the Land Forces and the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade are now headed towards the border with Belarus, according to Gen. Marek Sokolowski, a training inspector at the Armed Forces General Command. And they won’t hesitate to respond with arms.