Defence ministry: Belarusian guards force migrants to march along border fence

Polish authorities stopped two groups of migrants from crossing the border from Belarus late on Thursday, TVN24 quoted Podlasie police as saying, marking a relatively quieter day in a week of tense confrontations.

Two incidents in the evening involved larger groups - one near Kuźnica Białostocka where the Belarusian army tried to push some 35 people, mostly women and children, to the Polish side, and another including a group of around 100 migrants near Połowce, the local police said.

The Defence Ministry published a video on Twitter showing a night video from the border. It shows a group of migrants running along the barbed-wired fence. Commands rushing the migrants in English, uttered most likely by Belarusian border guards can be heard in the background. Polish soldiers stand in line on the other side, telling the migrants to stop.

"Another example of instrumental treatment of migrants by Belarus. Migrants are forced to march along the fence separating the border," the ministry said on Twitter.

The European Union accused Belarus of mounting a "hybrid attack" on the bloc by encouraging thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and war-torn areas to try to cross into Poland, and is gearing up to impose new sanctions on Minsk.

Trapped between two borders, the migrants are enduring freezing weather in makeshift camps.

The Polish Border Guard said on Friday on Twitter there had been 223 attempts to illegally cross the border on Thursday.

President Andrzej Duda went to the border late on Thursday, when Poland celebrated its Independence Day.

"I would like to thank all the Soldiers, Policemen, Border Guards and everyone who serves on our border," he wrote on Twitter. "They protect our safety with their dedicated service. Praise and gratitude to them!"

Poland has reinforced the border patrols with thousands of additional soldiers, border guards and police officers as groups of migrants were attempting to break through border fence and cross into the country.

Poland has also reported at least seven migrant deaths in the months-long crisis and some migrants have expressed fear they would die.

Countries bordering Belarus on Thursday warned the migrant crisis could escalate into a military confrontation while Ukraine said it would deploy thousands more troops to reinforce its frontier.

Presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will meet on Monday in Vilnius to discuss the crisis and will speak with Duda via a video link, Lithuanian president's office said on Friday.

Belarus and its ally Russia have placed the blame on Europe, with the Kremlin accusing it of failing to live up to its own humanitarian ideals and trying to "strangle" Belarus with plans to close part of the frontier.

Russia, an ally of Belarus, traded barbs with Western members of the U.N. Security Council over the crisis, with Russia's deputy U.N. envoy suggesting his European colleagues have "masochist inclinations."