With the resurgence of the invasion in Ukraine, the neighboring countries in Eastern Europe (and NATO) have taken a series of preventive measureswhich range from the deployment of aid to receive refugees and the activation of military protocols.
(Read here: Russian soldiers are already in Kiev; explosions are reported in the capital)
(Due to the public interest that the events between Russia and Ukraine arouse, all our coverage of that invasion and related actions will have free access for all readers of EL TIEMPO)
Poland’s actions
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Thursday called on his NATO and European Union (EU) partners to strengthen “even more and in the shortest possible time” the eastern flank (which borders Ukraine).
During an appearance before Parliament in an extraordinary session dedicated to the situation in Ukraine, Morawiecki recalled that “there are already more than 6,000 soldiers” of the Atlantic Alliance on Polish territory and stated that this presence must be reinforced.
For his part, the Polish Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, confirmed in an interview with a news portal that Warsaw is preparing a special medical train to treat wounded from Ukraine and that there are more than 120 Polish hospitals willing to admit people. that come from that country.
As explained by the minister, the convoy will be ready “in the next few days” and will pick up wounded people “on the border with Ukraine” to transport them to Polish hospitals.
“We have means and capabilities throughout the country and we will use them,” he said.
(You may be interested: Ukrainian President regrets that they left their country ‘alone’ against Russia)
On the other hand, Prime Minister Morawiecki condemned the “path of terror” that according to him Russian President Vladimir Putin had chosen and urged the international community to impose “very strong” sanctions on Moscow, since, he stated, “only decisive actions will stop the barbarism of Putin and the Kremlin”.
After confirming that the Polish Army is on “maximum alert”, he indicated that Russia proposes “a conventional war, but also of a hybrid nature”.with disinformation and propaganda, which they are very good at.
Since Wednesday, Poland has been at the second highest level of computer alert for the possibility of cyber attacks on its institutions.
What measures has NATO taken?
The North Atlantic Council, which in a statement warned that the invasion of Ukraine will have “geostrategic consequences” and for which it assured that Russia must “assume full responsibility”, decided to activate the organization’s defense plans at the request of the main NATO military commander, General Tod Wolters.
“This is a prudent and defensive step to protect and shield partner nations during this crisis. And it will allow us to deploy capabilities and forces, including the NATO Response Force -of some 40,000 troops-, where they are needed”, explained Stoltenberg, who recalled that the Alliance has already been strengthening its collective defense while Russia continued to accumulate troops around Ukraine.
Thus, in recent weeks, the allies have deployed thousands more troops in the eastern part of the Alliance, and he gave an example that there are more than 100 fighters on “high alert” to protect airspace and more than 120 allied ships from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean.
“All this shows that our commitment to collective defense of Article 5 is strong. And we will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect the Alliance from aggression,” he stated.
(You are interested in: Video: Russia attacks Kiev with ballistic missiles)
In this context, the allied secretary general stressed that “there is no room for miscalculation” and that “an attack on one would be seen as an attack on all” allies.
“Since Russia knows that an attack on one would provoke an attack on all, it will not attack, because we are the strongest Alliance,” the secretary general ventured. He recalled that they have been warning of the possibility of the invasion for some time and that, at the same time, they have been preparing for such a scenario by placing more forces in the eastern part of the Alliance, where more will arrive in the coming days, he said.
“What we do is proportionate and defensive, we are not looking for a conflict,” Stoltenberg assured, while lamenting that “Russia has closed the door to a political solution.” In any case, he again called on Moscow to “immediately cease its military action, withdraw its forces from Ukraine and choose diplomacy.”
The keys in Hungary
Hungary (a country that often criticizes Europe and shows sympathy with Russia) has deployed soldiers and military equipment in areas of its territory bordering Ukraine, announced Magyar Defense Minister Tibor Benko.
(In other news: Biden: ‘We will defend every inch of NATO’)
“If there is an escalation of the situation in Ukraine (as has already happened) there will not only be war activities in the east of the country, but they could also spread to Kiev” and the border areas with Hungary, the minister warned, quoted by the local agency. MTI. He explained that the military must guard the eastern borders, with Ukraine, to ensure that armed groups cannot enter the country.
Relations between Hungary and Ukraine have been tense for years, since on the one hand Budapest accuses its neighbor of not respecting the rights of ethnic minorities in the country, including the Magyar, of about 150,000 people, while Kiev accuses the Central European country of supporting Russia’s policies.
And those fleeing Ukraine?
“Everyone who can, is fleeing,” explains Krisztian Szavla, one of the first Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Hungary on Thursday, from Transcarpathia (west), where a large Hungarian minority lives.
“We don’t want to go through what they are experiencing in the eastern mountains, waking up to sirens and the Russians bombing your city,” says the 28-year-old Ukrainian at a gas station in Záhony, on the Hungarian side of the border.
Throughout Thursday, the Hungarian police reported long queues to enter the country through the five steps they have with Ukraine, with whom they share a 140-kilometer border. According to the Hungarian news agency MTI, “at least 400 to 500 people” crossed the border on foot.
For its part, in neighboring Romania, the police said on Thursday that about 5,300 people entered from Ukraine (with which it has a 615-kilometer border), when there were 2,400 the day before. Several hundred Ukrainians crossed the border at Sighetu Marmatiei, according to television footage.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and Efe
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