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The Belarusian president has announced he will deploy some forces with Russia, claiming without evidence that Ukraine was planning strikes on his country.
The Russian ally’s state-run news agency, BELTA, quoted President Aleksandr Lukashenko saying the countries would “deploy a regional group of forces”, citing “aggravation on the western borders”.
“This complies with our documents. It says that if the threat level reaches the level as it is now, we begin to use the Union State group of forces,” he said, referring to the supranational organisation linking Russia and Belarus.
“The basis (I have always said this) of this group is the army, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus.
“I must inform you that the formation of this group has begun. It’s been going on for, I think, for two days. I gave an order to start forming this group.”
No further details were available regarding what the troop deployment would involve or where they would be deployed.
Thousands of Russian troops amassed in Belarus at the start of the year, ahead of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, which was launched in part from Belarus’ territory.
Western sanctions have targeted both Russian and Belarusian officials, including Lukashenko, who has consistently voiced his support for Russia and attacked the West without sending his own troops into Ukraine.
Lukashenko’s Monday morning (Monday evening AEDT) announcement came after Russia bombarded Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, striking civilian targets in a potential retaliation for a strike on the critical Kerch Bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea.
At least eight people were killed and 24 wounded in the first strikes on Kyiv in four months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to stay inside bomb shelters, saying Russia was “trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack on the Kerch Bridge, for which Ukraine has not claimed responsibility, a “terrorist act” and claimed it was masterminded by Ukrainian special services.
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Lukashenko claimed, without evidence, that he had been told of plans to hit Belarus from Ukrainian territory that would be “the Crimean Bridge two”.
“I have already said that today Ukraine is not just contemplating, but planning strikes on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko said.
“Of course, the Ukrainians absolutely do not need this. Well, why would they need to open a second front on our southern border which is their northern border?
“This is madness from the point of view of the military. Nevertheless, the process has begun.
“They are being pushed by their patrons to unleash a war against Belarus in order to draw us in it and deal with Russia and Belarus at a time.”
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Lukashenko, an autocratic leader who has ruled the ex-Soviet nation with an iron hand for nearly three decades, had allowed Russian forces to gather in Belarus as a staging post before the war.
But there were no indications Belarus had sent it own troops to Ukraine.
– Reported with Associated Press
