Ukraine warns Russia is pressing Belarus to join the war or allow troop transfers. Kyiv says no mass strike formations are currently assembling near the border.
Russia continues to pressure Belarus with the aim of drawing it into the war against Ukraine or using its territory to redeploy its troops. At the same time, near the Ukrainian border there are currently no signs of the formation of strike groups.
This was reported by Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, on a television broadcast.
Context and Ukraine’s position
Demchenko noted that the border line with Belarus, more than 1,000 km long, is a potentially threatening direction, and therefore Ukraine should primarily strengthen its defensive capabilities to counter any threat from its neighbor.
Indeed, when talking directly about the border line, fortunately there have not been any unusual situations or provocative actions detected from Belarusian territory
– Andriy Demchenko
Along the stretch of border spanning over 1,000 km, the threat remains, but Demchenko stressed that we must be prepared for provocations that could trigger the transfer of forces to other directions.
In the immediate vicinity of our border we do not register a buildup of strike formations that would be forming or already formed and ready to invade. But again, one should be prepared for various provocations aimed at causing Ukraine, for example, to move additional forces there, thereby weakening other, more important directions
– Andriy Demchenko
According to Demchenko, the task of reconnaissance units and other components of the Defense Forces is to monitor what is happening deeper inside Belarus and how the situation may change.
Also, Demchenko stressed that Russia is not stopping the pressure on Belarus to engage this direction, and one cannot rule out the possibility of Belarus joining the war as a participant or Russia’s deployment of additional forces to this direction.
Russia’s pressure on Belarus does not stop to engage this direction. In particular, one cannot rule out either Belarus joining the war with its own forces unleashed by Russia, or Russia potentially transferring additional forces to this direction at any moment
– Andriy Demchenko
On the Dobropillia direction, pilots of the Phoenix border unit of the Revenge Brigade, in cooperation with neighboring units, stopped the Russian assault, in which the enemy deployed dozens of armored vehicles.
Overall, these data confirm the priority of monitoring the border situation and continuing enhanced defenses by Ukrainian forces.