Defence ministry: migrants tried to force their way through barbed wire

Poland accused Belarus of trying to spark a major confrontation on Monday as video clips showed hundreds of migrants walking towards the Polish border and some trying to breach the fence using spades and other implements.

Warsaw said it had deployed additional soldiers, border guards and police, while neighbouring Lithuania said it might introduce a state of emergency on its border with Belarus.

The European Union, to which Poland and Lithuania both belong, accuses Minsk of encouraging migrants from the Middle East and Africa to cross into the EU via Belarus, as a form of hybrid warfare in revenge for Western sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko's government over human rights abuses.

Poland said it had withstood the first attempts on Monday by the migrants to force their way across the border.

Lukashenko's government has repeatedly denied manufacturing a migrant crisis, blaming the West for the crossings and treatment of migrants.

The Belarusian state border committee issued a statement confirming that a large group of refugees was moving along the highway to the Polish border, and saying Warsaw was taking an "inhumane attitude".

Poland has stationed more than 12,000 troops at the border, its defence minister said, while sharing aerial footage of migrants clustered on the Belarusian side. "They throw tree trunks on the fence so as to reduce the height of this fence to breach it," said Katarzyna Zdanowicz, spokeswoman for Polish border guards in the area. Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged a strong response from the EU and United Nations. "Belarus' regime escalates the border crisis – migrants are pushed to EU border by armed men," she tweeted. "The migrant smuggling, violence & ill-treatment must stop," Tsikhanouska said in a tweet.

The EU, the United States and Britain imposed sanctions on Belarus after Lukashenko unleashed a violent crackdown on mass protests following a disputed election last year.

"Lukashenko's regime is putting the lives and health of migrants at risk, using them to escalate the border crisis and provoke Poland," said Bix Aliu, the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires in Warsaw. "Hostile actions by Belarus are exacerbating the situation on the border with the EU and NATO dangerously and must end immediately." Lukashenko has defied opposition calls to resign, buttressed by money and diplomatic support from traditional ally Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday defended Minsk's handling of the migrant issue, saying Belarus was taking all necessary measures to act legally. Charities say the migrants face freezing weather conditions and a lack of food and medical attention.

Neighbouring EU member Lithuania announced it was moving additional troops to the border to prepare for a possible surge in migrant crossings. Its government may follow in Poland's footsteps by declaring a state of emergency.

Poland has stationed more than 12,000 troops at the border, the defence minister said, while sharing aerial footage of migrants clustered on the Belarusian side. Latvia, which shares a border with Belarus, called the situation "alarming."

TVN24 reporter Maciej Sokołowski asked the NATO about its potential reaction to the border crisis. He received the following response from an unnamed official of the alliance.

"We are concerned by the recent escalation at the border between Poland and Belarus. We call on Belarus to abide by international law. We have seen a surge of migrants trying to enter Allied territory via Belarus. NATO continues to closely monitor the situation, which is putting pressure on our Allies Lithuania, Latvia and Poland," the diplomat wrote.

"The Lukashenko regime's use of migrants as a hybrid tactic is unacceptable. The Secretary General remains in close touch with Allied governments on the issue. NATO stands ready to further assist our Allies, and maintain safety and security in the region," reads the message our reporter received from the NATO.

The European Commission also condemned the Lukashenko regime for its desperate attempts to destabilise the EU through instrumental use of migrants.