Lithuania, Poland prepare evacuation plans for 1 million people via Suwałki Corridor
Lithuania and Poland are developing cross-border evacuation plans that could move one million or more people from the Baltic states through the Suwałki Corridor in the event of a major crisis, following joint civil defense exercises.
The two countries have already identified alternative border crossings and evacuation routes and plan to draw up international evacuation procedures “as soon as possible,” Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said.
The preparations follow Vytis Vault 2026, Lithuania’s largest annual exercise testing the country’s mobilization system. Around 20 Polish representatives participated in the drills.
“Following the exercise held by our friends in Lithuania, we already have an agenda and an action plan in place,” Kierwiński said, adding that Poland had assigned tasks to authorities in the Podlaskie Voivodeship and the Border Guard.
Lithuanian Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said the Suwałki Corridor could become the route for one million or more people seeking to move deeper into Europe during a large-scale crisis.
“If the threat were at such a level that people naturally began moving towards the heart of Europe, Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians would have a single corridor,” Katelynas said.
The Suwałki Corridor is a narrow stretch of territory along the Polish-Lithuanian border that provides the Baltic states with their only land connection to the rest of NATO and the European Union.
Poland said the exercises highlighted the need for alternative evacuation routes and border crossings, while both countries are now moving into what Kierwiński described as “intensive work” on joint evacuation planning.
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