Tensions Rise On The Border Amidst Assault On Polish Soldiers
The tensions on the border between Poland and Belarus have risen once again. In recent weeks, assaults on the border fence have multiplied and the migrants began openly attacking Polish soldiers and border guards. Last week a soldier of the Polish Armed Forces was attacked and stabbed with a knife by an illegal migrant during his guard duties. The soldier was immediately hospitalized.
It seems that Minsk, in cooperation with Moscow, continues operations aiding illegal migrants in crossing the EU border. The intensity of the crossings is again high, with many instances of successful breakthroughs. Migrants tend to boast about their attempts to breach the fence and move to the West on social media. Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said, on 29 May, that Poland is “dealing with another episode, an extremely brutal version of the hybrid war.” The first seemingly coordinated attempts to cross the border took place months before the outbreak of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, in October 2021. Since then the flow of migrants slowed, but has recently increased again despite setting up guard outposts and a fence on the border. Tomasz Siemioniak, Minister of the Interior and Administration, explained:
“It all started with throwing branches and stones. These days, we are seeing the situation escalating. In the last couple of hours, two Border Guard officers have been injured. Thankfully, they sustained minor injuries, unlike the stabbed soldier. On the other hand, this situation keeps escalating,”
The situation remains uneasy for the troops deployed as the reality of securing the border is far from regular service. The soldiers cannot use personal weapons to defend themselves as it could cause an international incident, while non-lethal weapons are not being issued on a regular basis. Despite this Prime Minister Donald Tusk told soldiers and border guards that:
“There is no room for negotiations here, the Polish border must be protected, the objects of aggression are Polish soldiers, Polish border guards, officers, and you have every right, not to say even the obligation, to use all the methods available to you.”
Besides that the army is not mandated to process detained illegal migrants – this duty belongs to the competencies of the Polish Border Guards creating even more chaos in the organization of the security forces.
Due to the recent stabbing, the Ministry of National Defense decided to deploy elements of the 6th Airborne Battalion and 25th Air Assault Brigade, both regarded as elite formations, to the border to reinforce the component of soldiers from territorial defense and other divisions who volunteered for service there.
Header image courtesy of DGRSZ.