"By the end of this year, I think we will have between 200,000 and 215,000 soldiers [in the Polish armed forces], when 10 years ago there were about 100,000. And next year we will spend 4% of GDP on defence, which I think is the highest percentage in NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization]," said Poland's Deputy Minister of National Defence, Cezary Tomczyk.

Speaking to a group of European journalists, including the Lusa agency, as part of the event "Conversations on Europe" organized by the newspapers Gazeta Wyborcza and Die Zeit and the European Cultural Foundation, the official admitted that "a lot of money" was at stake.

"We try to inform Polish citizens every day about the need to mobilize all this money for the army because we know where we live," he said, referring to the proximity of Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia two years ago.

Today, the Polish government announced that it intends to allocate around 2.3 billion euros to reinforce its eastern border, as part of a plan called the Eastern Shield, which will be implemented between 2024 and 2028 to ensure security along 700 kilometers of territory.

This is the largest security reinforcement operation in the area since 1945, when World War II ended.

"It will be an investment of 4% of GDP, equivalent to about 200 billion zlotys [local currency, about 47 billion euros] to which we must also add these 10 billion zlotys [2.3 billion euros] under this Eastern Shield," said Cezary Tomczyk, responding to a question from Lusa.

Asked whether all the Eastern Shield infrastructure will be completed in four years, as planned, the Polish Deputy Minister of National Defence said it was "possible", especially since "it is already happening", namely in terms of investment in satellites.

"We also want to change the law in the coming weeks to not only build the Eastern Shield, but also to make some investments, for example to build a new base for the Polish army," he said.

While rejecting the sending of Polish troops to Ukraine, which would cause possible Russian retaliation, the official stressed that "NATO is strong, especially after the enlargement to Sweden and Finland, and therefore must demonstrate it and show that it is prepared for anything".

"Putin [Russian President] only understands power. They built this great army to be prepared," compared Cezary Tomczyk.

According to the deputy minister, the war in Ukraine has also shown "how important it is to have bomb shelters", which is why the Polish government wants to "help people and allocate about 10 billion zlotys [about two billion euros] for citizens to build such spaces".

"Everyone should know what to do if something happens," said Cezary Tomczyk.

Located in eastern Europe, Poland borders Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, and has been one of the countries on the front lines supporting the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian armed forces in the face of the Russian invasion.

The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24, 2022, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).

Read Also: Russia promises to respond to Poland's restrictions on Russian diplomats (Portuguese version)