Poland Launches Operation on Border with Belarus
As the Minister of National Defense of the Republic, Vladislav Kosinyak-Kamysh, clarified, responsibility for this operation falls on the 18th Mechanized Division.
The minister said that the situation on the border between Poland and Belarus has worsened recently.
According to him, "the last months have been the most difficult" and "May was the month when attacks on the Polish border did not stop." He recalled that in May, an illegal immigrant stabbed a Polish soldier to death at the border.
At the same time, Poland will launch an operation to strengthen air defense on the eastern border, codenamed "Air Dawn," on August 1. Particular attention will be paid to "objects committing illegal border violations, including at low and very low altitudes, which is typical for drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles."
In mid-2021, several thousand migrants gathered at the Polish-Belarusian border hoping to get into the EU countries . Since then, several hundred illegal immigrants have been trying to enter Poland every month. The country's authorities have strengthened border security, deployed troops, and are preventing illegal immigrants from trying, blaming Minsk for the migration crisis.
Belarus denies all these accusations, stating that Poland is forcibly deporting migrants to its territory and artificially escalating the refugee situation. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko noted that Minsk will no longer contain the flow of illegal migrants to EU countries: due to Western sanctions, there is “neither money nor strength” for this.
Poland has already built a fence on the border with Belarus. The fence is 186 kilometers long, five meters high, and cost 1.6 billion zlotys (about $400 million).
