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Russia and Belarus will begin joint air force exercises on Monday, raising concerns in Kiev and the West that Moscow may use its ally to launch a new ground offensive in Ukraine.
Minsk claims the drills are defensive, and since Moscow used Belarus as a springboard for its invasion of Ukraine last February, the country has conducted numerous military exercises, both independently and in collaboration with Russia.
Minsk, in collaboration with Moscow, has also bolstered the drills with weaponry and military equipment.
Since the beginning of the year, unofficial military monitoring channels have reported a slew of fighters, helicopters, and military transport planes landing in Belarus, including eight fighters and four cargo planes on Sunday alone.
The reports could not be verified by Reuters. Only “units” of Russia’s air forces have arrived in Belarus, according to the Belarusian defence ministry.
“All airfields and training grounds of the Air Force and Air Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of Belarus will be involved in the tactical flight exercise,” the ministry said in a statement.
According to a post on the Belarusian defence ministry’s Telegram app on Sunday, the situation on Belarus’s southern border – the border with Ukraine – was “not very calm,” and Ukraine was “provoking” Belarus.
“We’re exercising restraint and patience, keeping our gunpowder dry,” Muraveyko explained. “We have the necessary forces and means to respond to any manifestations of aggression or a terrorist threat on our territory.”
Ukraine has consistently warned of possible Belarusian attacks, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated last week that the country must be prepared at its border with Belarus.
The Kremlin has denied pressuring Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to play a more active role in the Ukrainian conflict. Minsk has stated that it will not join the war.
FEWER SURVIVORS
On Sunday, Ukraine saw little hope of extracting any more survivors from the rubble of an apartment building in the city of Dnipro, a day after the building was hit during a major Russian missile attack, with dozens of people expected to have died.
Natalia Babachenko, the regional governor’s adviser, said 30 people had been confirmed dead and more than 30 were hospitalised, with 12 in critical condition. She estimated that 30 to 40 people were still trapped beneath the debris.
Emergency crews said they heard people screaming for help from beneath piles of debris from the nine-story apartment building in the city’s east, and they were using moments of silence to help direct their efforts. The rescuers’ concerns were compounded by the freezing temperatures.
“The chances of saving people now are minimal,” Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov told Reuters. “I believe the death toll will be in the dozens.”
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, the apartment building was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which is known to be inaccurate and which Ukraine lacks the air defences to shoot down. The Soviet-era missile was designed to destroy warships during the Cold War.
On Saturday, Russia launched two waves of missiles at Ukraine, hitting targets all over the country as fighting raged in the eastern towns of Soledar and Bakhmut.
Since October, Moscow has been bombarding Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with missiles and drones, causing widespread blackouts and disruptions to central heating and running water.
APPEAL FOR ADDITIONAL WEAPONS
Zelenskiy called on Western allies to supply more weapons to end “Russian terror” and attacks on civilian targets in his nightly address following the Dnipro strike.
Western powers are considering sending battle tanks to Kyiv ahead of a meeting of Ukraine’s allies next Friday in Ramstein, Germany, where governments will announce their most recent pledges of military support.
Britain, like France and Poland, promised more weapons on Saturday, saying it would send 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks as well as advanced artillery support in the coming weeks.
The first shipment of Western-made tanks to Ukraine is likely to be interpreted by Moscow as an escalation of the conflict. According to the Russian Embassy in London, the tanks will prolong the conflict.
Russia’s invasion, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation,” has already killed thousands, displaced millions, and reduced many cities to rubble.
SOLEDAR
Ukraine’s forces were fighting around the small salt-mining town of Soledar in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the focal point of Russia’s drive to capture more territory.
Russian forces claimed to have taken control of the town, but Ukraine insisted on Sunday that its forces were fighting to keep it, with street fighting raging and Russian forces advancing from all directions.
Simply put, THE BATTLE GOES ON,” Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app. “Everything else is unverified information.”
According to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, it is highly unlikely that Ukrainian forces still held positions within Soledar.
Reuters was unable to confirm the situation in the town immediately.
