The European hub, in
Rzeszów.

CHARACTER

Rzeszów sits eighty kilometers from the Ukrainian border and has served since February 2022 as NATO’s primary logistics and staging hub for security assistance to Ukraine. The Rzeszów-Jasionka airport complex, designated as the Logistics Enabling Node — Poland, handles the reception, staging, and onward movement of Western military materiel into Ukraine. Approximately ninety-five percent of allied military assistance from over forty donor nations transits through this facility.

The hub originally operated under U.S. Army leadership, with the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to the area in the opening days of the full-scale invasion. Following a decision announced at the 2024 NATO Washington Summit, operational responsibility transitioned to NATO’s Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine command and Polish armed forces in early 2025. The facility continues to operate at full capacity under allied leadership, protected by Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems through mid-2026.

In 2025 alone, NATO logistics structures processed approximately 220,000 tons of military cargo through the Rzeszów corridor — 9,000 truck movements, 1,800 rail cars, and nearly 500 strategic airlift flights. A second logistics hub in Romania opened in early 2026 to complement the facility, but Rzeszów remains the principal artery for allied support to Ukraine.

For a defense-industrial advisory practice, there is no more operationally relevant location in Europe. Rzeszów places Northline Counsel at the physical nexus of transatlantic defense logistics — where procurement decisions, export-control compliance, and supply-chain architecture translate into material movement. The city’s established defense-logistics ecosystem, proximity to the Ukrainian border, and dense presence of allied military and contractor personnel make it a natural anchor for the firm’s Central and Eastern European work.

Our Rzeszów office is led by Nikoletta Bielut, who brings over a decade of Polish and international commercial law experience to corporate structuring, regulatory compliance, and cross-border contract negotiation for defense-industrial clients operating in southeastern Poland and the broader CEE region.