The organisation ‘I want to help refugees’ published its second report on the situation on the Latvian-Belarusian border. It reports that between 28 April and 15 August 2025, a total of 6,559 people were prevented from crossing the Latvian–Belarusian border, while seven were admitted on humanitarian grounds. ‘I want to help refugees’ received 64 calls on its hotline from people at or near the border, often seeking medical or humanitarian assistance or reporting missing relatives. Most calls came from Sudanese and Somali nationals, while individuals from Ethiopia, Chad, Morocco, Cameroon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Burundi, Guinea, Oman and Eritrea also made contact.
Many callers were men or groups of men, although there were also cases involving unaccompanied minors and vulnerable individuals, such as a pregnant woman from Ethiopia. The majority of those reaching out were located in Belarus without valid a visa and they expressed fear of deportation. Some calls included reports of violence and refoulement at the border, including cases of physical force, use of electric shocks, damage to personal property and pushbacks involving minors.
Several cases concerned the need for medical attention, though not all individuals accepted or received assistance, and in one case the person was later reported dead. Two calls related to missing women after crossing into Latvia, while official sources reported that three people had died at the border in 2025.