MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th July, 2023) NATO intends to construct a new facility in the city of Rzeszow in southeastern Poland, newspaper Globe and Mail reported on Friday, citing Canadian and Polish officials familiar with the matter.
The facility, which will be located off the city and less than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Ukrainian border, is expected to serve as a maintenance hub for NATO military equipment rather than a full-scale military base, the sources told the Canadian news outlet.
"We are going to establish a maintenance facility in partnership with the US and the UK. No intent to have a large Canadian presence," an unnamed Canadian official said, adding that the facility's main role would be to repair tanks and other armored vehicles supplied to Ukraine by the NATO allies.
No Canadian military personnel would be stationed in Rzeszow long-term with their families, the source said.
In mid-June, Polish envoy to NATO Tomasz Szatkowski said that Warsaw and Berlin were planning to set up a repair center for German-made Leopard battle tanks in Poland's southern city of Gliwice in the near future. However, in mid-July, media reported that Germany intended to withdraw from the project due to Warsaw's inflated expectations regarding maintenance payments.
