Warsaw reports 22 irregular crossings from Belarus after border fence breach

April 5, Pozirk. A group of 22 foreigners crossed from Belarus into Poland yesterday after damaging the border fence, Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for Poland’s interior ministry and security services, said on X.

The incident stood out because five persons stayed on the Belarusian side of the border to cover the offenders by throwing stones at Polish border guards, the official noted. Foreigners were also filming the incident for potential use by the Belarusian propaganda and those in charge of illegal migration in an attempt to demonstrate that the Polish border can be easily crossed, he added.

Yet CCTV footage proves the contrary, and the Polish border remains secure and heavily guarded 24/7, as the number of foreigners trying to cross irregularly into Poland via Belarus has been on the rise recently, Dobrzyński stressed.

Since the start of 2025, Poland has not allowed at least 4,100 people to cross irregularly from Belarus. Latvia and Lithuania have foiled 476 and 221 attempts, respectively, according to Pozirk‘s analysis of border guards’ data.

Last year, the European Union recorded 36,300 irregular border crossings at its shared border with Belarus.

The flow of people desperate to get to the EU surged in spring 2021 after Alaksandar Łukašenka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent asylum seekers from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.

Belarus’ western neighbors call the migration crisis a “hybrid attack” orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.

A recent report by the Oxfam and Egala rights groups cited evidence of pushbacks and violence on both sides of the Belarus-EU border.