WARSAW: Poland on Wednesday said it would extend temporary checks along its borders with Germany and Lithuania by a further six months, until April 4 next year.
Border checks had been reinstated in July, with the Polish government justifying the measure as a way to combat irregular migration.
Warsaw had accused Berlin, which reintroduced checks along their shared border in 2023, of sending migrants back toward Poland — an accusation Germany denies.
“We are extending border controls with Germany and Lithuania to monitor the migration route originating from the Baltic states, passing through Poland, and leading to Western Europe,” Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski stated in a statement.
“We are intercepting individuals attempting to illegally transport migrants to the West,” he said.
The minister also referenced “persistent migratory pressure” on the border with Belarus, a country Warsaw accuses of instrumentalising migration to destabilize the region.
“During the first eight months of 2025, nearly 25,000 illegal crossing attempts were recorded at the Polish-Belarusian border,” according to the statement.
Over the same period, Polish border guards detained 2,400 people attempting to cross the Polish-German border irregularly in both directions, including almost 550 who had already breached barriers along the border with Belarus.
Around 60 smugglers were apprehended at the Polish-Lithuanian border from January to August this year.
European countries in the Schengen free travel area may introduce border checks if they believe there is a threat to public order or domestic security.
Poland to extend German border checks until April
https://arab.news/gdm5v
Poland to extend German border checks until April
- Border checks had been reinstated in July
- Warsaw had accused Berlin of sending migrants back toward Poland
Russia hits Ukraine with drones, missiles, kills at least 10 in Kharkiv
- Zelensky said that Russia launched 480 drones and 29 missiles targeting the energy sector and railway infrastructure
- “There should be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life“
KHARKIV, Ukraine: Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight on Saturday, damaging infrastructure and killing at least 10 people, including two children, in the northeast city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia launched 480 drones and 29 missiles targeting the energy sector and railway infrastructure across the country.
“There should be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life,” Zelensky said on the Telegram app.
“Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine’s residential and critical infrastructure, and therefore support should continue,” Zelensky said, urging partners to continue air defense and weapons supplies.
Ukrainian air defense units shot down 453 drones and 19 missiles, the air force said. But nine missiles and 26 attack drones hit 22 sites, it said.
BALLISTIC MISSILE SLAMS INTO RESIDENTIAL BUILDING
The city of Kharkiv was targeted by both Russian drones and missiles, and 10 people, including two children, were killed after a Russian ballistic missile slammed into a five-story residential building, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
“When we arrived here 20 minutes after the explosion, I thought I was going to have a stroke. I couldn’t string two words together, and my legs were buckling,” Hanna, a resident of the destroyed building, told Reuters.
“It’s good that I wasn’t there with my child and that my father was with me. It was ordinary people who lived there. What were they targeting?“
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces carried out massive overnight strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial complexes, military airfields and energy facilities, the Interfax news agency reported.
In Kharkiv, 15 people were also wounded, and 19 residential buildings were damaged by the Russian attacks, Syniehubov said.
Commercial and administrative buildings, electricity distribution lines, and cars were also hit, he said.
In Kyiv, three people were injured, and the heating was knocked out in 2,806 residential apartment buildings in four districts across the capital after Russian strikes hit an energy infrastructure facility, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
National grid operator Ukrenergo said that emergency power cuts were introduced in seven regions following the Russian attacks.
Ukrainian officials said that Russia also attacked four railway stations and other railway infrastructure in central Ukraine and port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region, setting on fire containers with vegetable oil and damaging a grain warehouse.










