Temperatures in one of the towns closest to the Polish-Belarus border, Bialystok, have already dropped below zero, even in the middle of the day. Some snow has fallen in the region and more is forecast towards the end of the week.

Last Saturday (November 18), Grupa Granica, the Polish humanitarian group helping migrants, asylum seekers and refugees at the border region with Belarus, posted on its Facebook page that it had come across a group of Syrians with frostbite, which it said had been caused by days exposed to wet, freezing conditions in the forests that cover most of the border region.

'Do you know what this means?'

According to a translation by Google, the post reads: "Snow in Podlasie. Do you know what this means? Winter is starting. At night we met the first people with frostbite this year...a result of being soaked for many days, the skin of the feet began to separate from the sole and become severely damaged."

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A medic for the group said that without hospital treatment, some of the migrants would "risk amputation." All were suffering from "first degree hypothermia," the medic said.

The Syrians told volunteers from Grupa Granica that there were "a lot of people trapped in the 'sistema' (an area fenced and guarded by Belarusian soldiers on the border with Poland)." Women and children were among those trapped, they said.

Grupa Granica warns that temperatures are expected to fall to minus 8 degrees some nights and has called on the Polish government to provide hospital care to those who need it and to stop expelling people to Belarus. It also called on the government to allow everyone to request asylum, "even those on Polish territory on the other side of the fence."

The group appealed for donations of clothing and sleeping bags to help people keep warm in the forest.

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Migrants from 52 countries attempt crossing since January

Meanwhile, the Polish border guard continues to report daily on the numbers of migrants it has stopped or found trying to enter Poland.

On November 20 it said it had identified 44 "foreigners trying to enter Poland illegally from Belarus." The migrants came from five different countries "India, Sri Lanka, Syria, Afghanistan and Iran," the border guard wrote on X.

On the previous day (November 19), a similar number of migrants reportedly attempted the crossing. The border guard said that at the sight of the patrols, 14 people turned back and tried to swim back across a river into Belarus. Nine people made it to the other side and authorities detained four Eritreans and four Ethiopians.

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The border guard also reported on Monday that it was attacked by a group of "aggressive migrants...throwing firecrackers, stones and branches." No one was injured.

Since the beginning of the year, migrants from 52 different countries have attempted to cross the Belarusian border into Poland, according to the border guard.

It said it had recently dismantled an international organized criminal group involved in smuggling migrants across the external European Union border.

At the same time Polish guards are also controlling the border with Slovakia, another EU member state, searching cars they suspect could be bringing undocumented migrants into Poland.

In pictures posted by the border guard, the ground is covered in mud and frost. Light smatterings of snow cover the forested areas around the metal fence and rolls of razor wire.