Officials in Kyiv has said they are monitoring Belarusian troops massing on the Belarus Ukraine border over the past few days.
Last week the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that there is a “significant number” of military personnel building up in the Gomel region which borders Ukraine’s northern border.
The Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has assembled tanks, weapons, rocket systems, air defences and special operations forces.
Some Wagner mercenaries are also among the Belarusian forces in the Gomel region who are taking part in military exercises.
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Belarus is “concentrating” their troops along the shared border and Ukraine warned Minsk against “unfriendly actions.”
The Foreign Ministry has accused Minsk of using the build up of thousands of troops “under the guise of exercises.”
Kyiv has issued Minsk with a warning not to make “tragic mistakes under Moscow’s pressure.”
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that President Alexander Lukashenko is “extremely unlikely to risk combat with Ukraine that could weaken his regime,” and believe the deployment is to distract Kyiv’s forces.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s border guard service said currently there is no immediate threat.
“This is tens of kilometres from our border, at different points – different distances,” said Andriy Demchenko.
“What is happening on the territory of Belarus is actively monitored by intelligence units, the ministry of defence and the state border service in order to understand how the situation is changing, how threatening it can be for Ukraine.
“So that all components of our defence forces, which strengthen this direction, have the opportunity to react in time to any actions.”
