Lithuania and Poland began work on cross-border evacuation plans and identified alternative border crossing points that could be used in the event of a crisis, public broadcaster LRT reported on Tuesday.
Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski told reporters on Monday at the Budzisko border crossing with Lithuania that they had identified alternative evacuation routes and crossing points.
He also reaffirmed that international evacuation plans would be drawn up "as soon as possible."
"Following the exercise held by our friends in Lithuania, we already have an agenda and an action plan in place," he said.
Mass evacuations were part of Vytis Vault 2026, Lithuania's largest annual exercise aimed at testing the country's mobilization system. Around 20 Polish representatives also participated in the drills.
Kierwinski said Lithuania and Poland would now begin "intensive work" on international evacuation plans, and that Poland had assigned responsibilities to relevant institutions.
"In the event of any crisis, Lithuania becomes a natural route for the citizens of the Baltic states to move towards the European Union, so we must be prepared for such a scenario," he noted.
Kierwinski added that they also discussed population protection and civil defense issues with his Lithuanian counterapart Martynas Katelynas.
Katelynas, meanwhile, said "the Suwałki Corridor would become the route through which 1 million or more people would move" during a 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 underscored.
He stressed the need to strengthen cooperation between the Baltic states and Poland on civil defense and security.
