By Olha Hembik | 2026-04-29

Warsaw is preparing for the worst. The Polish capital has designated 28 protected facilities across the city -- metro stations, school basements and hospital bunkers -- where residents can shelter in the event of a military strike. The move comes as Russia's war in Ukraine grinds on and Kremlin-linked sabotage operations continue to ripple across Europe.

The metro is the centerpiece of the plan. Under the Underground Shield program, launched late last year, Warsaw's transit authority is retrofitting metro stations to serve as shelters for more than 100,000 people. The city has a population of about 2 million.

On March 18, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski published the full list of designated sites on social media, showing sleeping bags, cots, stretchers, thermoses and other emergency gear already stockpiled in metro station storage rooms. Electric generators are next.

Steel gates, real limits

Warsaw's metro currently runs two lines -- M1 and M2 -- with 39 stations spanning about 41.5 kilometers (about 26 miles). Planning is underway for two additional lines, with civil defense requirements built into the designs from the start. Designated shelters will have lighting, running water, sewer connections and ventilation.

But Warsaw's system has a structural limitation. The stations sit only a few meters to a couple of dozen meters below ground -- nowhere near deep enough to qualify as bomb shelters. They can, however, protect people from shell fragments and debris.

The M1 line stations are equipped with Overhead Contact Line (OCL) steel rolling gates, originally installed to block flooding. When activated, steel partitions seal the entrances and floor panels rise to close the station behind a six-meter door. The gates stop bullets and fragments. They are not hermetically sealed, so they cannot block a gas attack.

Ukraine's metro stations tell a different story. Most stations in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro sit several dozen meters underground, deep enough to serve as genuine bomb shelters during Russian strikes.

Kyiv-based journalist Iryna Kuzmina knows the difference firsthand.

"When there's a threat of ballistic missiles, my son and I don't take any risks. We immediately grab our tent or folding chairs and go to the Nyvky station. It's always warm and cozy there, and safer than in the parking garage of our housing complex," she told Kontur.

She said she would seek shelter in Warsaw's metro too, if threatened, despite the shallower depths.

"Supposedly the deepest station in the Kyiv metro, Arsenalna, can keep you safe even if there's a nuclear strike," Kuzmina said.

Churches, handbooks and courses

Warsaw is not the only city preparing. The Ministry of the Interior and Administration (MIA) announced on March 19 that it would partner with the Catholic Church to build out a national civilian safety network. Catholic parishes, with their extensive local infrastructure, will distribute humanitarian aid in a crisis. The charity Caritas Polska will coordinate. If needed, churches will also serve as shelters.

This winter, many Polish households received a government safety handbook by mail. It listed shelter locations and outlined where to take cover when shelters are out of reach. The MIA is also launching civilian protection courses covering evacuation procedures, 72-hour survival skills and first aid.

The Ukrainian House in Warsaw is running similar training for Polish non-governmental organizations (NGOs), drawing on direct wartime experience.

"Compared to Ukraine, right now Poland doesn't have enough organizations that are offering free courses for everyone who wants to take them," cultural and humanitarian projects coordinator Olena Zots told Kontur.

Ukrainians who have lived through or fled the war carry a readiness that is hard to teach, she said.

"They understand that a peaceful, calm life can disappear very quickly."

Learning from Ukraine

Political analyst and international relations expert Stanislav Zhelikhovsky said Russia could theoretically strike Warsaw to neutralize Poland as a Ukraine ally -- and that Warsaw is right to take the scenario seriously.

"The Underground Shield program shows that Warsaw is taking seriously the scenario of large-scale strikes on cities, including missile and drone attacks," he said.

He argued Poland should also study Ukraine's approach to air defense in cities, including mobile fire bases mounted on sport utility vehicles (SUVs) that shoot down drones and cruise missiles.

"There's nothing complicated here, but we can share with Warsaw residents our experience in setting up mobile fire bases, which destroy air targets, including Shaheds and cruise missiles, from SUVs with weapons," Zhelikhovsky said.

He added that he does not expect tensions between Moscow and Warsaw to reach that point.

Zots put the strategic stakes plainly: Ukraine is Poland's most important security partner. Without it, she said, Poland's security architecture falls apart.