The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tuskaccused this Tuesday Russia of being behind the recent sabotage on a key railway line for the shipment of help ukraine.
In a speech before Parliament, the head of the Polish Government pointed out “two citizens of Ukraine “who have been operating and collaborating for a long time with the Russian services” as material authors of the attack suffered by that railway infrastructure.
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The prime minister highlighted that the Polish security services “have managed to establish the identities of those responsible” for the explosion of an artifact on the road that connects the capital with Lublin and the attempt to sabotage another route, but specified that the names of the culprits “cannot be revealed yet, because there are ongoing operations.”
YOU CAN SEE: Poland describes the explosion on a train track that connects the country with Ukraine as “unprecedented sabotage”
Tusk explained that one of the suspected persons is a Ukrainian citizen who was already convicted in absentia “for acts of sabotage by a court in Lviv in May of this year.”
The second is a “resident of Donbas”, the eastern region of Ukraine, and explained that both entered Poland from Belarus in the fall of this year and, after committing sabotage, fled through the Terespol border crossing.
Furthermore, the head of the Polish Government stated that “in all cases related to sabotage and acts of espionage (in Poland) a connection with Russian services has been detected.”
“These events are perhaps the most serious situation from the point of view of the security of the Polish state since the outbreak of the large-scale war in Ukraine,” said the Polish leader.
The sabotages
The acts of sabotage occurred between November 15 and 17 at two points on the Warsaw-Lublin railway route, although Tusk did not confirm the events until Monday the 17th.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivers a political speech to the Lower House. Photo: EFE/EPA/RAFAL GUZ
At one of the points, a “military-type device, with C4 explosives, detonated by a 300-meter-long cable” exploded.
Elsewhere a steel clamp was found that was attempted to be used to sabotage the rail and cause a derailment.
Tusk stressed that “the objective was to cause a railway catastrophe.”
The prime minister announced that he will order the introduction of the third level of anti-terrorist alert, “CHARLIE” on certain railway lines, the second highest alert level of the four there are.
This alert level implies, among other measures, 24-hour surveillance at crossings, tunnels and bridges on railway routes, as well as strict control of access of people and vehicles to protected facilities, and the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the protection personnel guarding those facilities.
Recent arrests and involvement of Ukrainians
In his appearance, the prime minister pointed out that, in total, 55 people have been arrested in Poland for acts of sabotage since the war in Ukraine began in 2022 and specified that, of those fifty individuals, 23 have been imprisoned.
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Recently, Polish authorities arrested eight people for inspecting various critical infrastructure facilities with the alleged objective of attacking them.
Tusk warned that the objective of the Russian authorities, whom he explicitly blamed for the attacks, “is not only the direct effect of the attacks, but the social and political consequences, such as disorganization, chaos, panic and uncertainty” among the population.
The second, “especially dangerous” goal, according to Tusk, “is to foster sentiments that are as radically anti-Ukrainian as possible.”
For this reason, the prime minister called on the population to “trust exclusively in the statements of the official services” and “not give in to disinformation coordinated from the East.”
