In Poland, a soldier has died after a knife attack by a migrant at the border with Belarus. Despite the efforts of doctors, the soldier’s life could not be saved after the “criminal attack” on him, the General Staff of the Polish Army said on Thursday.

According to the army, the soldier was attacked with a knife last week by a migrant who was on the Belarusian side of the border. He is said to have stabbed him in the chest. According to local media reports, the soldier was on patrol at the five-meter-high border fence that Poland erected in 2022.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed his condolences to the soldier’s relatives. The young man “gave his life to defend the border of the Republic of Poland,” Tusk wrote on the online service X. “The homeland and his compatriots will not forget his sacrifice.”

The Polish army reported two more attacks on two soldiers at the border last week. One soldier was attacked with a knife attached to a stick, and another was injured in the face in an attack with a broken glass bottle.

Western states have long accused the Belarusian leadership of trying to destabilize the EU by smuggling migrants across the Polish border. The accusations are rejected by Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.

According to the Polish authorities, more than 17,000 attempted border crossings have been registered since the beginning of the year. The government in Warsaw announced last year that it would invest a further 2.3 billion euros in strengthening the border with Belarus.