Body of young Syrian man found in Polish woods near Belarus border 

Migrants walk along the barbed wire as they gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus on Friday. About 15,000 Polish troops have joined riot police and guards at the border. The Belarusian Defense Ministry accused Poland of an “unprecedented” military buildup there, saying that migration control didn't warrant such a force. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA pool photo via AP)

Polish police said that the body of a young Syrian man was found in the woods near the border with Belarus, the latest victim in a political standoff at the European Union's eastern border.

The regime in Minsk has for months been encouraging illegal migration across the border into the EU nations of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

All three countries are reinforcing their borders, seeking to block the newly opened migration route, and the situation is growing more dangerous as winter approaches.

Police said the body was found a day earlier near the village of Wolka Terechowska.

They said the exact cause of death could not be determined.

It brings the death toll now to at least nine reported victims in the migration encouraged by Belarus' longtime President Alexander Lukashenko.

Many of the migrants are from Syria, Iraq, or elsewhere in the Middle East, and are people seeking to flee conflict and hopelessness for the prospect of better lives in Europe.

Every year, tens of thousands try to get into Europe, embarking on dangerous and sometimes deadly journeys by sea and land.

Since the summer, thousands have been lured by what appeared to be a new and easier way to slip into Europe, through Belarus.

The EU accuses Mr Lukashenko of creating the artificial route in order to retaliate for sanctions against his regime imposed after an election in 2020 widely viewed as flawed and a harsh crackdown on internal dissent that followed.