Belarus is facing serious threats, according to the country’s President Aleksandr Lukashenko. Earlier this week he gave an interview to state television. On Sunday, parts of the interview were shared by the state news agency Belta. There, Lukashenko claims, among other things, that Ukraine has 120,000 soldiers near the border with Belarus. In the face of the threat, they have sent one third of the army to the border. – As a witness to their aggressive policy, we have deployed military personnel in selected places, as in the case of war, for defense, along the entire border, says Lukashenko in the interview. Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin are friends. Here the two were together on a visit to Karelia, close to the border with Finland, in July. Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV / AFP This has no basis in reality, believes retired lieutenant general Arne Bård Dalhaug: – This is pure nonsense on Lukashenko’s part, Dalhaug tells news. – Out of thin air When Russia attacked Ukraine with full force in February 2022, parts of the attack were carried out from Belarus. Since then, Ukraine has had a military presence along the border. But nothing close to what Lukashenko claims, says Dalhaug: – 120,000 soldiers will be a formidable force. It must be a number pulled completely out of thin air. Retired lieutenant general Arne Bård Dalhaug believes that Ukraine does not have 120,000 soldiers available to deploy along the border with Belarus. Photo: kristin thrane In recent months, Ukraine has struggled to hold its own against the Russian invasion forces along the 1,000 kilometer land front line in Ukraine. It therefore came as a great surprise to many when Ukraine entered Russia with large forces on 6 October. Since then, they have taken control of 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory in the regions of Kursk and Belgorod, Ukraine claims. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inspected defense works in the Volyn region on the border with Belarus in July. Photo: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / Reuters Ukraine now controls over 80 villages and settlements near the border, Ukrainian Defense Chief Oleksandr Syrskyj said on Thursday. Among other things, Ukraine has taken control of the city of Sudzha. However, Dalhaug believes that they have no similar plans for Belarus. – No one has any thoughts about entering Belarus, he emphasizes. Blowing up bridges The Ukrainians have also emphasized that the offensive inside Russia aims to increase Ukraine’s security, as discussed by the Kyiv Independent: The offensive has forced Russia to take soldiers away from the front in Ukraine and send them to Russia. Russia has carried out several attacks, including airstrikes, from Kursk. The Ukrainians have also attacked columns of military equipment on their way to Ukraine, in Kursk. Russia’s Ministry of Defense shared this photo on Sunday. It has not been independently verified. The Ministry of Defense claims it shows Russian soldiers at an unknown location in Kursk firing at Ukrainian forces. Photo: AP On Sunday, Ukraine claims to have blown up a bridge in Kursk: – Minus another bridge. The air force continues to take military capabilities from the enemy through precision strikes, wrote the head of Ukraine’s air force, Mykola Oleshchuk on Telegram. This is the second bridge over the Sejmelva in Kursk that the Ukrainians claim to have blown up this weekend. The second bridge is said to have been blown up on Friday. Reuters has verified satellite images showing that this bridge was destroyed sometime between Friday and Saturday. Can try to hold the defense line Dalhaug believes that the bridge explosions indicate that the Ukrainians want to hit the Russians’ logistics and transport network. And that they may not plan to venture further into Russian territory. A satellite image from Saturday of a bridge over the Sejmelva in the Glushkovo district of Kursk showed a destroyed bridge. Ukraine claims they blew up the bridge on Friday. On Sunday, they claim to have destroyed another bridge over the same river. Photo: 2024 Planet Labs Inc. / Reuters – If you put on the military goggles and look at a bridge, the question you always ask yourself is: Do I need this bridge to move forward? says Dalhaug. If the answer is yes, then you don’t blow up the bridge. If the answer is no, i.e. that you should not move forward, then you can blow up the bridge. – Then you make it difficult for the opponent to attack you, says Dalhaug. – The fact that Ukraine is now blowing up some bridges indicates that they do not envisage going any further in this area. That this is roughly the line of defense they will hold for a while. Ukraine’s surprise offensive in Kursk has received a lot of attention. At the same time, hostilities continue further south in the country. There, Russia continues to make small progress. On Sunday, Russia claims to have taken another Ukrainian settlement, Svyrydonivka, in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. This is reported by several news agencies. It has not yet been verified by independent sources. On the night of Sunday, Russia once again fired drones and missiles at Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv. All eight drones and five missiles were shot down. Interested in abroad? Listen to the foreign affairs editor’s podcast: Published 18.08.2024, at 14.04 Updated 18.08.2024, at 14.39
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Belarus’ president warns of 120,000 Ukrainian soldiers on the border – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
