Poland bolsters border with Belarus after migrant stabs solider: 'Hybrid warfare'
DUBICZE CERKIEWNE, Poland (TND) — Poland will fortify its border with Belarus after a migrant stabbed a Polish soldier on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk reportedly announced the formation of a roughly 660-foot-wide buffer zone along its 118-mile long metal barrier, along with the deployment of additional military and police forces, after a migrant hospitalized a soldier from the Belarus side of the border.
“We came here today to say that in every situation, especially one as dramatic as the attack on our soldier, the Polish state stands on the side of the soldiers and Border Guard officers,” Tusk said at a press conference in Dubicze Cerkiewne, Poland.
The migrant reached through the barrier to stab the soldier in the ribs, according to the Associated Press report.
Soldiers and officers defend our border, risking their lives,” Tusk said. “The wounded soldier is well cared for, as is his family. We sent additional forces to the border.”Poland has long accused Belarus of facilitating migration into the European Union. A 2021 U.S. Congressional Research Service report suggested Belarus tried to create chaos and violence at its border with Poland to use in anti-European Union propaganda. Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki claimed Belarus was attacking Poland, according to the report.
“No one is in doubt about the nature of the actions we are facing. It's no coincidence that this aggression is escalating,” Tusk said. “These are organized methods of hybrid warfare, destabilizing the Polish state and the whole of Europe.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has also been accused of directing Belarus to facilitate migration. Last year, he warned Poland that any attack on Belarus would represent an attack on Russia.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Thursday migration has risen to an unprecedented level, adding the world has experienced the greatest level of displacement since World War II. In September, more than 114 million people were displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
“The reasons why people leave their countries of origin are those with which we are quite familiar: extraordinary poverty, violence, extreme weather events, corruption, suppression by authoritarian regimes,” Mayorkas said.
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