Britain sending 140 engineers to Polish border with Belarus

Britain already has personnel in its NATO ally Poland, amid tensions at the EU's border with Belarus.

"Our commitment to European security is unwavering and we will always offer support to our allies. This non-combat support will assist Polish efforts to protect their border and pass on vital engineering expertise," Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said.

The MoD said that the deployment of the engineers was expected to last until April.

The Czech government on Wednesday approved the deployment of up to 150 soldiers to aid Poland in stopping the flow of migrants seeking entry from Belarus. Earlier on, Estonian troops were sent to Poland to help at the Belarus border.

The crisis on the Belarusian border, involving thousands of migrants from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere all hoping to get into the European Union, has been going on for months.

Poland and the EU accuse Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging the migrants to travel to Belarus and cross the border illegally as revenge for sanctions imposed on Minsk over human rights abuses.

Lukashenko, who denies the allegation that he fomented the crisis, has pressured the EU to accept some migrants while Belarus repatriates others, a demand the bloc has so far flatly rejected.

Humanitarian agencies say as many as 13 migrants have died at the border, where many are camped in a cold, damp forest with little food or water as winter sets in.

International organisations have said Poland was breaching humanitarian standards in forcing some migrants back into Belarus, a charge the Warsaw government denies.