Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko assured on Friday that his country will not join Russia in the war in Ukraine, dismissing reports of an alleged covert mobilization and creation of a joint war force.
“Don’t mind that crying [ruído mediático]. We’re not going anywhere today. Today there is no war. We don’t need it”he said, while visiting a military-industrial complex at the Obuz-Lesnovsky Combined Weapons Training Camp, in the Brest region, close to the Polish border.
“We have to calm down. Each one has to devote himself to his own things if we don’t want there to be a war”added Lukashenko.
Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva said on Monday it had received “indications from across the country that men would be notified to report to recruitment posts” as part of a “secret mobilization”.
The Ukrainian General Staff Command also stated in its daily war report published on the 18th that “the secret mobilization of the Belarusian armed forces continues under the guise of training sessions”.
According to the report, anti-aircraft missile system operators and tank crews are being trained.
The deputy chief of the main operations department of the General Staff of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksiy Gromov, had said the previous day that “the threat of the Russian armed forces to resume the offensive on the northern front” was “growing”. “.
“This time, the direction of the offensive can be changed to the west of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border to close off the main logistical routes for the delivery of weapons and military equipment. [transportados] to Ukraine from partner countries,” he said.
According to the military official, there are Mig-31 aircraft at airports in Belarus that can be armed with nuclear-capable Kinzhal-type cruise missiles.
On the same day, Russian aviation began patrolling the borders of the State Union that Russia maintains with Belarus.
On Thursday, Belarusian portal Radio Svoboda indicated, based on satellite images, that Russia is concentrating troops and military equipment at Belarus’ Zyabrivka airport, in the Gomel region, near the border with Ukraine.
On the 11th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed sending an international observer mission to Ukraine’s border with Belarus, a country he accuses of being involved in the Russian war by lending its territory for attacks.
According to Zelensky, Belarus began to lend its territory to Russia in February for the army’s entry into northern Ukraine in an attempt to take Kiev, and over the following eight months gave Moscow various aids, namely launching drones and Iranian missiles.
Lukashenko announced on the 10th that he had signed an agreement with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to send a joint group of troops to the western borders of the State Union, because of the “worsening” of the situation.
According to Minsk, the group consists of about 9,000 soldiers, 170 tanks, almost 200 armored fighting vehicles and up to 100 cannons and mortars with a caliber of more than 100 millimeters.
Source: DN
