Ukraine: Border guards rehearse push-backs – “Stop intruders” (video)

You train for emergencies. Ukrainian border guards are preparing for migrants to attempt to enter Ukraine via the neighboring state of Belarus. The Ukrainian government had previously expressed concern about being drawn into the dispute between Belarus and the EU states. Even if the country is not a member of the EU, it is feared that the flow of refugees from Belarus will increase here too. The government in Kiev is therefore increasing protection at the border. 8,500 more soldiers and security forces and 15 helicopters are to be ordered there, as the Interior Ministry announced. This is to prevent Ukraine from becoming another front in the migrant crisis. This border guard said: “If Molotov cocktails, stones, bricks and other objects are thrown, we will stop and not back down. Our job is to stop the intruders”. The European Union had accused Belarus of encouraging migrants to come to its territory and then forcing thousands of them to travel to Poland and other neighboring EU countries in retaliation for the sanctions imposed on Minsk. The dispute over migrants at the border has particularly affected Poland, but also Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.