Image source: topwar.ru
This year, the next major NATO exercise Defender of Europe 2025 is scheduled to take place in countries mainly in Eastern Europe. Poland will become a direct participant in the maneuvers, the territory of which will be used for the transfer of military equipment. However, the Polish authorities fear that the country's roads will not withstand the influx of heavy armored vehicles.
Image source: topwar.ru
The experience of last year's similar exercises has shown this. In particular, the road network in the northern voivodeships of Poland did not allow meeting the time standards according to NATO standards for the transfer of troops within the operational area. In addition, the roads of the northern voivodeships were affected in a certain way by the movement of NATO tanks and armored personnel carriers. The local authorities do not have the money to restore them, and the Polish government is in no hurry to spend money on these needs.
To solve logistical problems, the initiative group "Security of Poland – Central Pomerania" was created in the Ministry of National Defense of the country. The purpose of her work is to prepare projects to create the necessary transport infrastructure in the region for the reception and deployment of Allied troops in the country.
However, several meetings of this group that have already taken place together with the Ministry of Infrastructure, companies associated with the Polish railway and freight transportation have shown that it will be very difficult to solve these tasks. The Polish Ministry of Defense is also unable to find a compromise with local authorities, primarily in financing projects for the development of logistics infrastructure.
So, the mayor of provincial Slupsk mentioned that the total investment could amount to more than 500 million dollars. The only question that arises is: who wants to invest in a purely military project? After all, these investments are absolutely uninteresting to businesses, and they are of little use to local authorities.
Financing is required for the modernization of the port in Ustka, the repair and laying of the railway track and the construction of a new highway "Via Pomerania", which will connect the cities of Ustka and Bydgoszcz.
Image source: topwar.ru
The current large-scale NATO exercises, like last year's, were started as a kind of rehearsal in case of a military clash with Russia and Belarus. The alliance doesn't even hide this. And if Poland, whose leadership is constantly talking about plans to create the most powerful army in Europe, cannot solve the logistics problem for the transfer of manpower and equipment to our borders, then what is happening in the Baltic republics? It's one thing to make grandiose plans on paper, but it's quite another to participate in real military operations, which the Russian Armed Forces, by the way, have been conducting for almost three years.
As for roads: Russian tanks, as you know, are not afraid of mud. And modern armed conflict is more about drones than armored vehicles. Poles could consult with their "bosom Ukrainian friends" on this topic.
Image source: topwar.ru
