Poland

First U.S. reinforcement troops arrive in Poland, more expected

RZESZOW, Poland, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The first U.S. troops reinforcing NATO allies in Eastern Europe amid a Russian military build-up on Ukraine's border arrived on Saturday at Rzeszow military base in southeastern Poland.

A small plane carrying what a Polish military source said were U.S. chain of command personnel landed in the morning at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport as preparations continued at the base, which is near Poland's border with Ukraine.

Poland receives US army equipment in effort to bolster eastern flank against Russia

WARSAW, Feb 4 - U.S. military equipment has begun to arrive in Poland, the Polish defence ministry said on Friday, to reinforce NATO's eastern flank as the West and Russia wrangle over Russia's military presence near the Ukrainian border.

President Joe Biden's administration announced on Wednesday the deployment of nearly 3,000 American troops to eastern Europe in the coming days amid a standoff with Russia over Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister rules out special status for Donbass

WARSAW, February 2. /TASS/: Ukrainian authorities rule out providing special status and veto power to Donbass, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said in an interview for Rzeczpospolita, published Wednesday.

"No Ukrainian region will have a right power for national state decisions. This is set in stone! There will be no special status, as Russia imagines it, no voting power," he said.

Polish PM calls for united European stance on Ukraine

WARSAW, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Poland's prime minister on Friday called on European leaders to take a tough, united stance towards Russia amid fears that Moscow could be readying an invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy concluded two days of talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on Friday, and Poland has said that Kyiv can count on its support in the event of a Russian attack.

However, Warsaw has not announced precise details of the form this support could take.

Medical workers fear Polish hospitals can’t handle new surge

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Doctors and medical workers in Poland fear the country’s health care system may not be able to cope with the latest surge of COVID-19 infections.

More than 30,000 new cases in 24 hours were reported Wednesday in this nation of 38 million people and health authorities are expecting the figure to almost double in the next week, reflecting the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant.

Covid-19: Poland records 100,000 Covid-linked deaths

WARSAW, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 100,000 people have died in Poland from Covid since the start of the pandemic, the government said, as the mortality rate in the country is among the highest in the world.

“It’s another sad day but particularly so today because we have crossed the threshold of 100,000 deaths,” Health Minister Adam Niedzielski told news channel TVN24.

Niedzielski said the most recent daily data showed 493 people had died, which would bring the total toll to 100,254 deaths, and pointed out there were 18,000 people currently in hospital.

Ruling party figures say Poland has Pegasus spyware

WARSAW, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Senior figures in the Polish government indicated on Friday that the country had bought sophisticated spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group, but denied that it had been used against political opponents.

Reports from the Associated Press that NSO Group's Pegasus software was used to hack the phones of government critics, including a senator who ran the election campaign for the largest opposition party in 2019, have led to accusations that special services are undermining democratic norms.

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