Ukraine To Send Personnel To Border With Poland To Share Intel On Belarus Migrant Crisis

According to RFE/RL, Ukraine says it is sending some of its border guards and national guard officers to its border with Poland to to share intelligence on the handling of the Belarus migrant crisis.

Thousands of migrants are sheltering in freezing conditions in the woods of Belarus near its borders with the European Union states of Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.

France on November 12 urged Russia's visiting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to use Moscow's links with the authoritarian ruler of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, to end the migrant crisis.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also condemned what he called "the irresponsible and unacceptable behavior of the Belarusian authorities in using migratory flows to target several countries of the European Union."

EU leaders have previously accused Minsk of "hybrid warfare" tactics, saying it has lured migrants from war-torn and impoverished countries in the Middle East and Africa.

EU officials say Minsk's policies are a form of retaliation for sanctions that Brussels has imposed on Lukashenka's regime over its violent crackdown on dissent after he claimed victory in an August 2020 election widely seen as rigged.

Belarus denies that it is doing so.

Ukraine, which is on Belarus's southern border, is wary about becoming a new flashpoint in the crisis. It has already said it is sending thousands of additional troops to reinforce its own borders.

"Ukraine supports Poland in this difficult time and hopes that it will be able to resolve the artificially inspired crisis in a peaceful and civilized way," Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyskiy told his Polish counterpart on November 12, according to a statement.

"We are ready to promptly consider any request from the Polish side to provide assistance in resolving the current situation."

Meanwhile, Belarus's Defense Ministry said on November 12 that it was holding joint paratrooper exercises with Russia near the Belarus-Polish border. Moscow called the drills part of a "surprise combat-readiness check."

Also, several airlines said on November 12 that they'll limit access to flights between Turkey and Minsk to stem the flow of migrants from the Middle East to the European Union's border with Belarus.

Belarus's state-owned airline Belavia, Turkish Airlines, and Iraqi Airlines all vowed on November 12 to try to stop migrants from heading to Belarus and onward to the European Union.