Thousands of people are trapped at the border of Poland and Belarus where about 20,000 soldiers keep vigil denying people from crossing over to Poland in addition to harsh weather conditions.
The European Union, the United States and NATO have accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of manufacturing a migrant crisis on the EU’s eastern frontier as retribution for sanctions over human rights abuses. Stranded people are facing “catastrophic” conditions in freezing forests and makeshift camps at the border.
Poland says Belarus is using migrants for “propaganda,” while rights groups criticize Polish pushbacks From CNN’s Antonia Mortensen, Fred Pleitgen and Kara Fox
Poland has accused the Belarusian regime of using migrants as propaganda tools, amping up a war of words as the humanitarian and geopolitical crisis on their border continues.
“Migrants are used as instruments by the Lukashenka regime. In the Kuźnica area, a group of women and children was moved to the fence, only so that the Belarusian services could prepare propaganda material,” the Polish Ministry of Defense said in a tweet Friday.
Polish authorities also said Friday that 223 border crossing attempts had been made by migrants on Thursday from the Belarusian side.
The Polish Border Guard press office told CNN that out of those people, 18 were able to apply for international protection in Poland.
Over 4,500 people have tried to cross the border since the start of this month, it added.
The Polish Ministry of Defense shared a video on their official Twitter account on Friday, purportedly showing migrants crossing the Kuznica border crossing on the Belarusian side.
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