Russia claims to have killed 80 Polish fighters in Putin's war on Ukraine, ratcheting up already strained tensions between the two countries.
In a chilling message to Poland, Moscow has reported a precision strike annihilated up to 80 Polish mercenaries alongside 20 armoured combat vehicles and eight Grad multiple rocket launchers in the Donbas region.
Vladimir Putin's foot soldiers have also removed a Polish flag from the Katyn war memorial in the Russian city of Smolensk which commemorates the massacre of 25,000 Poles by Soviet police in 1940.
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Smolensk's mayor, Andrei Borisov, said: "There cannot be Polish flags on Russian monuments.
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"Even less so after the frankly anti-Russian comments by Polish political leaders.
"The culture ministry of the Russian Federation made the right decision by removing the Polish flag. Katyn is a Russian memorial."
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Poland has been one of the beleaguered nation's biggest supporters, taking in more Ukrainian refugees than any other country and supplying Ukraine with weapons.
Poland also backs Lithuania's blockade of Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave sandwiched between Lithuania, Poland and the Baltic Sea.
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Since Lithuania, also a NATO member, blocked EU-sanctioned goods from entering Kaliningrad via rail, mainland Russia can only reach the enclave by sea which is a growing source of frustration for the Kremlin.
In response to the escalating tensions, Poland has called on NATO to increase its security presence in the Suwalki Gap – 60 mile strip of land that borders Poland and Lithuania, and a pathway from Kaliningrad to Russian ally Belarus, report MailOnline.
Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said: "We are going to seek the reinforcement of this corridor… in our talks with our partners from NATO."
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