Polish border guards thwart mass migration push from Belarus

Polish authorities have successfully prevented more than 250 attempts to illegally cross the country’s eastern border from Belarus over the past four days, the Polish Border Guard stated.

According to a statement posted on the Border Guard’s official account on the social media platform X, all detected incursions between 18 and 21 April were effectively halted by border patrols, Caliber.Az reports.

1⃣8⃣-2⃣1⃣ kwietnia na granicy z 🇧🇾 odnotowano ponad 2⃣5⃣0⃣ prób nielegalnego przedostania się do 🇵🇱, wszystkie udaremniono. Za pomocnictwo zatrzymano 2⃣ osoby. W stronę 🇵🇱 patroli rzucano kamieniami.#BezpiecznaGranica pic.twitter.com/2LLTM0CTDO

— Straż Graniczna (@Straz_Graniczna) April 22, 2025

“More than 250 attempts of illegal border crossing were recorded on the border with Belarus from 18 to 21 April, all of them were stopped,” the message reads.

The border guards further reported that two individuals were detained for aiding and abetting the illegal crossings. In a concerning development, the statement also noted that Polish patrols were attacked with stones thrown from the Belarusian side of the border, underscoring the volatile nature of the situation.

Poland has repeatedly accused Belarus of facilitating illegal migration as part of a hybrid strategy to destabilize the European Union’s eastern frontier. Tensions have remained high along the border since the migrant crisis erupted in 2021, with Warsaw reinforcing security infrastructure and deploying additional personnel in response to growing pressure.

Earlier, Poland has ruled out any reopening of its border crossings with Belarus under the current geopolitical circumstances, citing mounting security threats and provocative actions orchestrated by Minsk. Speaking on April 19, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak firmly stated that there is no “possibility” of resuming normal border operations while Belarus continues its hostile conduct.

“As long as Belarus behaves this way towards (Poland), I do not see any possibility that anything will change in this area. We would like... for these crossings to be open, for them to function normally,” Siemoniak said.

His remarks follow alarming developments reported on April 5 by the Polish Border Guard and national media, highlighting a deteriorating migrant crisis along the Poland-Belarus frontier. According to authorities, the crisis has intensified in both scale and violence, with claims that Belarus and Russia are jointly orchestrating the arrival of migrants seeking asylum at the European Union’s eastern border as a form of hybrid warfare.

He further emphasized Poland’s role as a NATO member and guardian of the EU’s external borders, underscoring the broader security implications of the ongoing standoff. “This is not only the border of Poland — it is the border of the European Union, the Schengen zone, and NATO,” Siemoniak asserted.

The escalation comes in the wake of Belarus’s continued alignment with Russia, particularly following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Minsk’s complicity in the conflict has severely strained its relations with Western nations, further isolating the regime internationally.

Currently, all but one of Poland’s border checkpoints with Belarus remain closed to passenger traffic.

Polish Defense Minister Vladyslav Kosinyak-Kamysh, speaking earlier this month, reported a sharp uptick in attempted border crossings: “Tonight there were a lot of attempts to cross the border, probably about 300, all thwarted,” he said. “It is aimed at attacking Poland, not at trying to find shelter. To cross the border illegally is breaking the law,” he added.

By Vafa Guliyeva