Ukraine Raises Alarm About Belarus Border

Ukraine raised concerns on Sunday about the build-up near its border of troops and weapons from Belarus whose leader is Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally.

Ukraine's foreign ministry said in a statement that the move by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had led to a "significant number of personnel" amassing near the city of Gomel, which is around 30 miles from the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

It said that the amassing of troops, which included mercenaries from the notorious Wagner Group, was taking place "under the guise of exercises" and noted the proximity of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) posed an additional hazard.

While Kyiv said it would not take "any unfriendly actions against the Belarusian people," any violation of Ukraine's border by the regime in Minsk would see a response of self-defense "guaranteed by the UN Charter."

"Consequently, all troop concentrations, military facilities, and supply routes in Belarus will become legitimate targets for the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the statement added.

Newsweek has contacted the Belarusian foreign ministry via email for comment.

Lukashenko has avoided direct involvement in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, despite his close alliance with Putin, whom he relied on to help keep him in power, following a crackdown on the opposition in the aftermath of disputed elections in 2020.

However, Lukashenko has allowed Putin, who launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, to use Belarusian territory as a staging post for attacks on Kyiv. Meanwhile, Russian nuclear weapons deployed to Belarus have added to speculation about Minsk's future role in the war.

Last week, Lukashenko said that a third of Belarus' army had been deployed to its border with Ukraine due to the presence of 120,000 Ukrainian soldiers in the area. His senior commander Viktor Tumar warned Belarusians would fight any Ukrainian invasion, although there is no evidence Ukraine has any such plans.

However, defense analyst Konrad Muzyka from Rochan Consulting wrote in an X, formerly Twitter, thread on Sunday that it's unlikely Belarus was looking at any offensive action against Ukraine "at this stage." Lukashenko's armed forces "would require a significant increase in manpower through mobilization to conduct any offensive operations."

Muzyka added that the exercises conducted by Belarus were similar to those in 2023 although the deployment of forces into Gomel Oblast, which Russia used to stage an attack on Kyiv in 2022, was "particularly concerning."

Ukraine has heavily fortified and mined areas along its border with Belarus, meaning any attack would require an overwhelming amount of force which it did not have at the moment.

Muzyka added that Kyiv is mostly worried about small incursions "aimed at seizing limited territory to compel a redeployment of Ukrainian forces from other regions."