KIEV, August 12. /TASS/. Ukrainian authorities have sent over 38 tonnes of barbed wire to Lithuania as humanitarian aid to help equip Lithuania’s state border amid an influx of illegal migrants from Belarus, the Ukrainian State Emergencies Service reported on Thursday.

"Over 38 tonnes of humanitarian aid has been dispatched today, August 12, from Ukraine to Lithuania. This is the first of three stages of aid, which Ukraine is sending in accordance with a decree by President Vladimir Zelensky and a resolution by the Cabinet of Ministers," it said.

The aid will help enhance the protection of the Lithuanian borders from illegal migrants, the statement says. The Ukrainian State Emergencies Service also uploaded several photos on its website showing that the humanitarian cargo consisted of barbed wire.

The Ukrainian government made a decision on July 28 to send barbed wire to Lithuania to equip the Lithuanian border while President Zelensky signed the relevant decree.

Over 3,000 illegal migrants from Asia and Africa have been detained on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border since the start of the year or 37 times more compared to 2020. Beset by the problem of accommodating migrants illegally crossing into its territory, Lithuania decided to build a barbed wire fence along about 550 km of its border but has already stated that it lacks the sufficient technical tools for doing so. The Lithuanian government earlier announced that Estonia had decided to send barbed wire to Vilnius to equip 100 km of the border. The Lithuanian Interior Ministry also considers it necessary to build a wall on the border with Belarus.

Lithuanian authorities say that Belarus deliberately allows migrants to cross into Lithuania to exert pressure on Vilnius. Minsk has rejected these accusations. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in late May that his country had been a barrier to drug trafficking and illegal migration into the neighboring state but Minsk might rethink its policy in the face of the West’s political pressure.