The incident happened during a "scuffle" while soldiers were trying to stop migrants crossing the border from Belarus into Poland on Tuesday evening (July 22), reported the Polish news agency PAP.

A press statement from the 12th Mechanized Division confirmed that the incident took place near the village of Narewka in eastern Poland at around 8:37 pm.

The Operational Command of the Armed Forces (DORSZ) wrote on the social media platform X, that "in accordance with the binding procedures, soldiers of the Podlasie Task Force used direct coercive measures, including riot guns."

'The detained migrants crossed the national border illegally'

According to DORSZ, the migrants had failed to comply with the soldiers' orders, and then they opened fire. These actions were meant to ensure the soldiers’ security and prevent aggressive behavior, DORSZ explained.

"The detained migrants crossed the national border illegally and in a non-designated area, which is a crime," read the statement from the 12th Mechanized Division.

Five migrants were detained at the border during the incident. The migrant shot was reported to be a Sudanese national. He was wounded in the thigh by the rubber bullet, and later transported to an emergency unit in the nearby town of Hajnowka, about 20 kilometers from the border, reported the Turkish news agency Anadolu. The migrants' life is reportedly not in danger.

The detained migrants were handed over to the Polish Border Guard, stated the Polish Army press release.

On Tuesday, the Polish Border Guard said that they had prevented at least 100 border crossing attempts on the country’s border with Belarus.

A spokesperson for the Polish Border Guard, Katarzyna Zdanowicz, told PAP that a group of 20 migrants did indeed breach the border but were apprehended soon after.

Poland to extend border controls with Germany and Lithuania

On Wednesday, the Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak announced that his country’s authorities intended to extend the border checks already in place on the German and Lithuanian borders. The controls were due to end on August 5, but will now be extended, reported Polish television channel TVP World.

Polish border authorities say on average between 50-200 migrants try and cross the border from Belarus to Poland every day.

Last week, according to the Anadolu Agency, Polish border officers came under attack by migrants. A Molotov cocktail was reportedly thrown at them. At the time, the Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X: "Soldiers are being attacked not only with stones but also bottles filled with flammable liquid."

Since 2021, when the so-called Belarus route opened up in earnest, Poland and other EU states have accused Belarus and its ally Russia of weaponizing migrants. They say that authorities in Belarus have been trying to help migrants cross into Poland in order to destabilize the EU.

Belarus had relaxed visa restrictions with some countries in the Middle East and Africa, creating a demand for travel agencies offering visas and accommodation in Moscow and Minsk, before moving migrants towards the border with Poland and the Baltic states.

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EU accuses Belarus and Russia of 'weaponizing migrants'

Authorities in Poland and the Baltic states have also accused masked agents in Belarus of cutting and damaging the fence in order to allow more migrants to cross into their countries.

In July 2024, the Polish parliament passed extra legislation removing criminal liability from uniformed personnel operating firearms on Poland’s eastern border. This happened after a Polish soldier was stabbed with a knife at the border, and later died in hospital from his injuries. In another incident, military police arrested two soldiers after they fired a warning shot at migrants, reports Anadolu.

However, despite the legislation, just last month, reports Anadolu, Polish prosecutors charged a 25-year-old for overstepping the rules on lethal force, after he shot towards a group of migrants. According to the news agency, he was accused of discharging 12 rounds from his service rifle on March 25, 2024. The soldier faces up to three years in prison.

Recently, the Polish Interior Minister was among those who met in Germany to talk about migration. The assembled six interior ministers from Poland, Germany, France, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark, along with the EU’s Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs (Magnus Brunner), agreed that more focus needed to be placed on the EU’s external borders, including on Poland’s border with Belarus.

Read AlsoPoland to launch 'information campaign' to prevent migrants from taking Belarus route

German and Polish Interior Ministers meet

On Monday (July 21), Siemoniak met his German counterpart Alexander Dobrindt at the Belarus border for a visit.

Siemoniak said that Poland has already spent around 600,000 euros (2.5 billion zlotys) and deployed 11,000 border guards and soldiers on its border with Belarus, reported Anadolu.

As well as several layers of barbed wire fencing, Poland has built an electronic barrier on some sections of the fence with Belarus. To date, there is a 186-kilometer steel fence and a 206-kilometer sensor-based barrier. In March, Poland suspended asylum applications for 90 days too, although this was announced as a temporary measure.

With PAP, Anadolu Agency 

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