Polish president deploys troops to borders with Germany and Lithuania

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has ordered the deployment of military units to checkpoints and border zones along Poland’s frontiers with Germany and Lithuania, the National Security Bureau announced.

According to the decree signed by Nawrocki, the Polish Armed Forces will support border guards in maintaining security and protecting border integrity. The troops will remain stationed along the German and Lithuanian borders until April 4, 2026.

“From October 5, 2025, to April 4, 2026, units of the Polish Armed Forces will be deployed to ensure the inviolability of the state border, public safety, and order in the area of state border crossing points and in the border zone on the state border with the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Lithuania,” the decree stated.

The decision follows an earlier announcement by the Interior Ministry that Poland would extend temporary border controls with Germany and Lithuania until April 4, 2026. These controls were first introduced in the summer of 2025, with the government citing the need to safeguard the country’s borders from mounting migratory pressure, particularly along the route from the Baltic States into Western Europe.

According to the Interior Ministry, during the first eight months of 2025, around 25,000 attempts of illegal entry were recorded along the Belarusian-Polish border. Nearly 500 people were detained while attempting to cross from Lithuania, while more than 2,100 were stopped on the Polish-German border. Among them, about 550 individuals had already illegally crossed from Belarus into Poland.

Poland has been grappling with a persistent migration crisis on its eastern border since 2021. The situation worsened after the European Union banned flights by Belarusian national carrier Belavia, which contributed to an influx of migrants moving westward.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly dismissed the prospect of Minsk cooperating with Warsaw or Brussels on controlling illegal migration.

By Tamilla Hasanova