New sapper battalion will help secure Suwalki Gap, defence minister says. "It will be equipped with a Polish-made scatter minelaying vehicle"

A sapper battalion will be established in Augustow, northeastern Poland, later this year in order to strengthen Nato’s eastern flank and secure the Suwalki Gap, a strategic stretch of land near Russia’s westernmost region of Krolewiec, Polish defence minister has announced.

The Suwalki Gap, surrounding the towns of Suwalki, Augustow and Sejny, is a sparsely-populated area straddling Poland’s border with Lithuania. Sandwiched between Belarus and the Russian enclave of Krolewiec, it is regarded as a vulnerable point in Nato’s defences as an attack across it could cut off the Baltic States. According to the politico.eu website, „in a showdown between Russia and Nato,” the Suwalki Gap „would likely be the first point of contact.”

Mariusz Blaszczak, the defence minister, said in Augustow on Sunday that the new battalion of sappers will be part of the 15th Gizycko Mechanised Brigade and the 16th Mechanised Division of the Polish Army, responsible for defending the Suwalki Gap. It will be equipped with a Polish-made scatter minelaying vehicle.

In mid-July, Andrey Kartapolov, the head of the Russian State Duma Defence Committee, warned that the Wagner mercenary troops had been sent to Belarus and could be used to attack the Suwalki Gap.

Later, during an April meeting of Nato defence ministers at the Ramstein air base , Germany, Blaszczak signed with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, a letter of intent on the establishment of a servicing centre for the Leopard 2 tanks at the Bumar-Labedy military equipment producing plant in Gliwice.

„The maintenance hub in Gliwice has started operating. The first two Leopards have already arrived from Ukraine at the Bumar plant,” Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

The Leopard 2 is the main battle tank produced by the German concern Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. They are operated by the armed forces of many European countries, including by Poland and Germany. In recent months, the transfer of a number of these tanks to Ukraine, fighting against the Russian aggression, has become the subject of intense debate. Finally, a decision was made to provide Ukraine with two battalions of Leopard tanks in two versions - 2A4 and 2A6.

Poland has handed over 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine.

mk