Poland revives a Cold War shelter in Lublin as Russian attacks on Ukraine intensify

The Polish city of Lublin has revived a Cold War-era air-raid shelter as Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukraine — with one symbolic detail: its emergency exit now faces west, not east, as Reuters reports.

The shelter is a modernised structure beneath the premises of the municipal bus operator MPK in Lublin, built in the mid-1980s, at the height of Cold War tensions, and updated to meet current standards. “It offers shelter for 200 people for up to 72 hours, providing air, water and electricity independent of external power grids,” Kamil Rzad, the civil protection inspector at MPK Lublin, told Reuters.

Poland, once part of the Soviet bloc and now a NATO member, has been on heightened alert after several Russian missiles and drones entered its airspace. Residents of the eastern regions have been told to seek shelter during Russian air attacks on neighbouring western Ukraine. Last week, a regional television station interrupted its live broadcast for about 20 minutes after journalists were evacuated to a shelter during an air alert.

According to government estimates, Poland has around 2,000 shelters for some 300,000 people, plus more than 86,000 lower-protection shelter places — basements, underground garages, metro stations — for around 23 million residents. But not everyone is reassured: Elzbieta Woznica, 77, says: “I actually doubt we have any shelter at all. I would probably run to the basement or my bathroom. For many years I was used to peace and quiet. I could not imagine something like this could happen.”

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this week that Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine is moving ever closer to Ukraine’s border with Poland: “We are constantly forced to scramble our aircraft, night after night and day after day, because Russian attacks near the border have become a constant phenomenon… We remain fully focused on ensuring that nothing bad happens on the Polish side.”