NATO to launch air-defense operation to bolster Polish airspace

Poland, along with allied NATO countries, will commence an air-defense operation named "Eastern Aurora" on August 1 to bolster Polish airspace amid Russia's threat.

The operation will run parallel with the ‘Safe Podlasie’ initiative involving the deployment of 17,000 troops to the Polish-Belarusian border, where a migratory crisis has been ongoing since 2021, News.Az reports citing foreign media.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said during an inauguration ceremony for Safe Podlasie on Wednesday that Eastern Aurora was “a matter of the security of Polish airspace.”

Poland’s aerial integrity has been breached by Russian missiles and Belarusian helicopters since the Ukraine war started in 2022.

In November of that year, two Poles were killed by a rocket strike in the south of the country, which transpired to have been a stray Ukrainian air-defense missile.

The Polish armed forces said in a statement on their website that the Eastern Aurora operation would be conducted in the east and northeast of the country.

“In the face of unpredictable Russian actions, strengthening air defense is a priority,” the statement said.

News.Az