Thousands of migrants from Belarus have had to endure freezing conditions while stranded at the Polish border, most of them have fled Iraqi or Syrian Kurdistan. The 3-kilometer exclusion zone set up by the border is guarded by thousands of soldiers, while a recorded message booms repeatedly through a loudspeaker: 'after crossing the border, you will be sent back to the country you came from'. The majority of migrants depart from Istanbul to Belarus, via a system set up by Lukashenko, with tour operators sponsored by Belarus. From Belarus, they intend to reach Europe via Poland. 'The Belarusian guards stopped and searched us. They kicked me in the face', says Yusef, who made it across the border. They charged $200 to take Yusef and his group to a different crossing point. 'Last night, the Belarusian police stopped us at the border. They took our chargers and our phone cables', says another young migrant, who spent three days in the forest by the border. With most of the migrants failing several times to cross the border, some are now resorting to people-smugglers to help them enter Europe.