'Increasing brutality' reported as Poland-Belarus border crisis escalates
The migrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border is escalating with "increasing brutality," the Polish Border Guard and Polish media reported on April 5.
Tensions between Poland, a NATO country, and Russian ally Belarus have surged following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Warsaw has also for several years accused Belarus of deliberately pushing migrants into Poland in order to pressure the EU over sanctions, a charge Belarus has denied.
Hundreds of illegal migrants, mainly from Sudan and Afghanistan, attempted to enter Poland illegally overnight on April 5, Polsat News reported, citing Polish Defense Minister Vladyslav Kosinyak-Kamysh.
"Tonight there were a lot of attempts to cross the border, probably about 300, all thwarted," Kosinyak-Kamysh said in a statement to Polsat News.
"It is aimed at attacking Poland, not at trying to find shelter. To cross the border illegally is breaking the law," he added.
While describing the situation on the border, Kosinyak-Kamysh said "the brutality is increasing," as those crossing the border were throwing stones and branches, and using angle grinders to cut the barrier.
Belarus, led by dictator Alexander Lukashenko, has also provided extensive support to Moscow's war in Ukraine and the Belarusian army regularly conducts military drills along its border with Poland and other EU countries.
Elsewhere in central Europe, the Latvian army has started digging an anti-tank ditch as part of the joint Baltic defense line along the country’s borders with Russia and Belarus, the Latvian public broadcaster LSM reported on May 2, 2024.
Meanwhile, on the Polish-German border, Polish border guards detained two Ukrainians helping migrants from Sudan and Afghanistan to cross the Poland-German border, the Polish Border Guard reported on April 4.
Since the beginning of the migration crisis in 2021, at least 740 Ukrainians assisting migrants to leave Poland have been detained.
