2024-06-06 20:38 update: 2024-06-09, 21:22
Photo PAP/Marcin Bielecki
A Polish soldiers who was stabbed, allegedly by an aggressive migrant, at the country's border with Belarus has died after a week in hospital, the General Command of Polish Armed Forces reported on Thursday.
"We regret to inform you that the soldier of the 1st Armoured Brigade who had been stabbed with a knife... died in the afternoon on June 6 at the Military Medical Institute in Warsaw," the General Command wrote on the X platform on Thursday.
"Despite the assistance provided in the area of the bandit attack on the border with Belarus and the efforts of doctors, his life could not be saved," the post continued.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk sent condolences to the family of the deceased soldier on the X platform on Thursday.
"A young soldier, Mateusz, gave his life in defence of Poland's border," Tusk wrote. "The homeland and his compatriots will not forget this sacrifice. I extend my deepest sympathies to his loved ones."
The soldier's post-mortem will be carried out on Friday, Piotr Skiba, spokesperson for the District Prosecutor's Office said.
The defence minister ordered all Polish military units to fly their flags at half-mast following the soldier's death.
The soldier was attacked on May 28 in the vicinity of the village of Dubicze Cerkiewne and since that day remained in a serious condition. The media have reported that he was stabbed with a knife mounted on a stick.
Poland has seen increasing migration pressure on its border with Belarus since 2021, when the Belarusian strongman, Alexander Lukashenko, decided to retaliate for EU sanctions on Minsk by mounting migration pressure on the EU. To this end, Belarus invited thousands of migrants to the country under a false promise of easy access to the EU across the Polish and Lithuanian borders.
In response, Poland has built a border fence to stem the inflow of migrants from Belarus, but despite it being fitted with advanced electronic surveillance equipment, hundreds of migrants are said to be crossing the barrier every month. (PAP)
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