The president of Belarus insists he won’t join Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine even as thousands of Russian troops are pouring back into his country. It’s a risk Ukraine can’t ignore.
As many as 9,000 Russian servicemen and almost 170 battle tanks, 200 armored personnel carriers, artillery and aircraft are arriving in Belarus as part of a “joint force” that Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko agreed to deploy in the nation bordering Ukraine to the north. They’re due to carry out live fire and missile drills in eastern and central Belarus.
Lukashenko allowed Putin to use Belarus as a launchpad for his failed attempt to seize Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, at the start of his invasion in February. Analysts say their aim now may be to distract Ukrainian forces advancing in the country’s east and south to retake territory that Putin claims to have annexed.
