A Polish soldier who was stabbed last week by a migrant while on patrol on Poland’s border with Belarus has died.
His death comes as concern mounts in Poland over security on the Belarusian border, with troops and border guards now subject to frequent attacks by people trying to cross the frontier.
The soldier, whose full name has not been revealed, had been in a critical condition since he was attacked on May 28, and earlier this week his commander had appealed for blood donations.
“It is with great sadness that we announce that on June 6, a soldier of the 1st Armoured Brigade who was stabbed passed away,” the General Command of the Polish Army wrote on the X platform.
“Despite the first aid provided at the scene of the criminal attack on the border with Belarus and the efforts of doctors, his life could not be saved.”
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, wrote: “A young soldier, Mateusz, gave his life in the defence of the border of the Republic of Poland. His homeland and compatriots will not forget his sacrifice.”
The serviceman was attacked as he tried to block a hole in a newly installed fence that runs the length of the border with a shield to prevent a group of migrants from getting into Poland.
According to the local prosecutor’s office, a man reached through the fence and stabbed the soldier in the chest.
The perpetrator of the attack has not been found or identified and is believed to be at large in Belarus.
Violent incidents on the border on the rise
On Friday, Belarus said it would investigate the death if Poland provided ‘specific information’ on the ‘circumstances’ of the attack.
Polish government officials on Thursday demanded explanations after it emerged that three soldiers were handcuffed and detained by Polish military police in March for having fired warning shots when faced with an advancing group of migrants on the border with Belarus.
The soldiers had allegedly fired warning shots first into the air and then into the ground as they tried to stop an advancing migrant group on Polish territory. No one was injured. Polish media report growing discontent among the military over the way their colleagues were treated.
Government officials say the detention was an excessive measure given the circumstances.
“This is a shocking case, considering the fact that our soldiers were recently repeatedly attacked by aggressors from the Belarus side,” said President Andrzej Duda, who is the supreme commander of Poland’s armed forces.
With violent incidents on the border on the rise Poland has warned that Belarus and Russia could be trying to orchestrate a repeat of the 2021 crisis that saw thousands of migrants trying to get into Poland.
According to Warsaw, Minsk and Moscow are using the migrants, who are granted visa-free access to their countries, as tools in an asymmetric warfare campaign to destabilise both Poland and the EU.
This, along with mounting geo-political tensions in the area owing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has resulted in Poland moving up to 10,000 soldiers to the border area.
Earlier this week, Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, announced the launch of an information campaign targeting migrants who might be considering trying to get into Poland, warning them that they are being “misled” by the Russian and Belarusian authorities.