Britain is to send an additional 350 troops to Poland in a show of support for its Eastern European ally, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Monday.
Speaking at a joint press conference in London with Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, Wallace said Britain will send extra troops to Poland “to show that we can work together and send a strong signal that Britain and Poland stand side by side.”
The announcement comes as more than 100,000 Russian troops are believed to have been amassed on Ukraine’s eastern border.
Poland is also facing a crisis on its own border with Belarus, whose leader Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has been accused of sending illegal immigrants across the border to put pressure on the European Union.
The UK already has 100 Royal Engineers in Poland to support Polish troops with specific engineering tasks along its border and Belarus.
Blaszczak welcomed the additional British deployment.
Speaking through a translator, he said he is “very grateful” to the British government for the support it has provided during the Lukashenko regime’s “hybrid attack” on Poland.
He added that his country is “facing another challenge” today, which is “the Russian aggressive policy towards Ukraine.”
“As part of NATO, but also on a bilateral level, Poland and the United Kingdom are ready to take all the necessary decisions in order to deter the potential aggressor,” he said.
“Based on historical experience, we see that only a decisive deterrence policy can stop any potential Russian aggression and, based on the very same history, we do see that the policy of appeasement only encourages the potential enemy to do something.”
Amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered additional U.S. troops deployed to Poland, Romania, and Germany to demonstrate to both allies and foes America’s commitment to NATO’s eastern flank.
In total, some 1,700 U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, are expected to be stationed in Poland.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv on Feb. 1 to offer support to Ukraine.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Johnson said the UK and allies “will always stand up for freedom and democracy and Ukrainian sovereignty in the face of aggression.”
The UK and its Western allies are ready to launch sanctions against Russia “the moment the first Russian toecap crosses further into Ukrainian territory,” he said.
