POLOWCE, Poland, Jan 20, (AP): Poland's six-month presidency of the European Union is firmly focused on security. As Europe’s biggest land war in decades rages, fewer places highlight the challenges and contradictions of defending the bloc and its values more starkly than the border with Belarus. Some 13,000 border guards and soldiers protect around 400 kilometers (250 miles) of border.

It’s become a buffer zone since Belarus’ ally, Russia, invaded neighboring Ukraine three years ago. Similar fortifications farther north line Poland's frontier with the Russian region of Kaliningrad. Poland is Ukraine’s top logistical backer. Most of the Western-supplied arms, ammunition and equipment helping to keep Ukraine’s armed forces afloat transit through. Russia, meanwhile, uses Belarus as a staging ground for its invasion.

At the border near the town of Połowce, a 5.5-meter (18-foot) steel barrier strung with razor wire and topped by security cameras separates once-friendly communities that war has turned into wary rivals. Drones, helicopters and armored vehicles keep watch. The border crossing is closed. Around 40 border guards and troops could be seen on Jan 16, when the Polish EU presidency invited 60 reporters from international media to witness the security effort.

The road was strewn with layers of concrete obstacles and concertina wire likely to dissuade an advancing army. Border guards peered into Belarus. It’s needed, the government in Warsaw says, because Russia and Belarus are waging a particular kind of hybrid warfare: helping groups of migrants - mostly from Africa or the Middle East - to break through the border to provoke and destabilize Poland and the rest of Europe.

"We have tightened our visa policy, and above all we have decided to suspend the right to asylum wherever we are dealing with mass border crossings organized by Belarus and Russia,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters on Friday. Almost 30,000 attempted border crossings were spotted last year. Most are young men, often from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

Polish authorities say they arrive in Belarus on tourist or student visas and are helped across for a fee ranging from $8,000 to $12,000. Poland says they’re assisted by the Belarus security services and other "organizers.” They're mostly Ukrainians, perhaps fallen on hard times since fleeing the war. They can earn $500 for each person they help, border officials say. Border guards claim to be routinely attacked. One guard was killed last year and several injured.