In pictures: Thousands of refugees trapped in Belarus migrant camp

Refugees unload firewood in a camp on the Belarusian-Polish border. Since the start of 2021, migrants have been heading to Belarus's borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, a situation which escalated into a migrant crisis on 8 November 2021. (Reuters)

Several thousand people have approached the Belarusian-Polish border and set up a tent camp. Some have attempted to cross the border into Poland by breaking a barbed-wire fence. (Reuters)

Refugees queue to collect water during the distribution of humanitarian aid in the makeshift camp. The European Union has accused Belarus of looking to destabilise its neighbours by ushering migrants towards their borders, and has threatened to impose new sanctions on Minsk. (Reuters)

Migrants, mostly from the Middle East, are sheltering in freezing conditions in the woods on the border between Belarus and the EU states of Poland and Lithuania, which are refusing to let them cross. (Reuters)

At the border, Polish authorities said they had foiled 223 attempted illegal crossings from Belarus overnight. They estimate the number of people trapped along the border at 3,000-4,000. (Reuters)

Poland has moved 15,000 troops to the Belarus border, a fence topped with barbed wire, and approved the construction of a wall. (Reuters)

At least 10 refugees have died on the border in recent months, seven of them on the Polish side, and there are fears for the safety of the rest, as bitter winter conditions set in. (AFP)

Charities and advocates say the freezing conditions have created a humanitarian emergency, and that European states have an obligation to allow the agencies access so they can provide food and shelter. The media has also been kept away, a step which critics say is concealing the extent of the crisis.

"These people... have to receive humanitarian aid, medical aid, and this aid must be provided to them on both sides of the border," said Iwo Los, from Grupa Granica (Border Group), a Polish organisation. (Reuters