Poland is preparing to move nearly 40,000 troops to its border with Belarus in the coming days, Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk announced on Polsat television.

The deployment comes in response to the joint Belarus-Russia maneuvers known as «Zapad-2025», which Warsaw views as offensive in nature. Tomczyk explained that the Polish army had been anticipating the drills and readied its forces accordingly.

As part of what officials describe as a proportional countermeasure, Poland has already staged its own large-scale military exercises in recent months. Those drills involved more than 30,000 service members and included participation from NATO allies.