Ukrainian officials on Wednesday indicated they are prepared if Russian ally Belarus joins the conflict as the country suddenly announced it would conduct combat exercises.
The Belarusian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the exercises would allow its military to operate on “unknown terrain in a rapidly changing situation,” reported state-run media. Before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, thousands of Russian troops massed on the Belarus-Ukraine border and used the country as a staging area to enter Ukraine.
The training exercise will not “pose any threat to the European community as a whole or to neighboring countries in particular,” the ministry added, according to state media reports. Belarus and Ukraine share a lengthy border, while Belarus also borders Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Russia.
It’s not clear if any Belarusian soldiers have taken part in the conflict. Belarus is an ally of Russia, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly praised Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine.
Previously, Lukashenko has denied U.S. and European claims that he would authorize sending troops into Ukraine to assist Russia. There have been reports of Belarusian dissidents attacking Russian supply lines in Belarus as well as Belarusians joining Ukraine’s defense forces.
The conflict has also made Belarus a target of Western sanctions and also prompted Washington to suspend its embassy operations in Minsk, the capital. On Tuesday, Lukashenko spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin via phone, with the conflict in Ukraine one of the topics that were discussed, Russian state-run media reported.
Demchenko told Reuters that Ukraine had also reinforced the country’s border with the Russia-backed region of Transnistria, which is located in Moldova and where tensions have been rising in recent days.
Also Wednesday, Russia bombarded railroad stations and other supply-line targets across Ukraine. Heavy fighting also raged at the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol that represented the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the ruined southern port city, according to the mayor. But a Russian official denied Moscow’s troops were storming the plant, as Ukrainian commanders claimed a day earlier.
The Russian military said it used sea- and air-launched missiles to destroy electric power facilities at five railway stations across Ukraine, while artillery and aircraft also struck troop strongholds and fuel and ammunition depots.
