Estonia's Wisent task force builds 4 bridges for border protection in Poland

TALLINN - The new Estonian task force, Wisent 5, which began its service in Poland last week, has built four bridges within a week to make the guarding of the border between Poland and Belarus significantly more efficient. 

"Until now, Polish border guards had to patrol on foot along certain sections of the border because various water barriers did not allow the use of ATVs. We have now built strong and wide enough bridges to cross the barriers, making border surveillance much more efficient and mobile," commander of Wisent 5, Lt. Col. Marko Land said. "In addition, we will continue to improve access roads at the border, so far we have done so along almost ten kilometers. We will also continue to strengthen border protection barriers. It is also worth highlighting that we have been able to conduct cooperation exercises with the combat engineers of the Polish Army."

The Wisent 5 task force will be deployed in Poland until April 30. Similarly to previous rotations, Wisent 5, too, will be operating in eastern Poland and continue cooperation with the 18th Mechanized Division of Poland.

Estonia sent its first nearly 70-strong Wisent task force to Poland at the start of December 2021 with the unit consisting of reservists, active duty personnel and civilian employees. The deployment is a bilateral defense cooperation project in the framework of which border barriers are erected, media operations conducted and monitoring flights carried out for border surveillance purposes.