Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko mentioned kyiv has stationed greater than 120,000 troops alongside its border with Belarus, the nation’s state information company reported, as preventing continues amid Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk area.
Lukashenko, a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, mentioned on Sunday that Minsk had deployed virtually a 3rd of its armed forces alongside all the border in response to the Ukrainian deployment, BelTA reported. kyiv didn’t instantly reply to the claims.
“Seeing their aggressive coverage, now we have launched and positioned our military at sure factors – in case of struggle, they’d be defensive – alongside all the border,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by BelTA in an interview with Russian state tv.
Lukashenko is “issuing some very severe threats to officers in kyiv,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow.
The president made it clear that if Ukraine tries to enter Belarusian soil, he’ll go on the offensive, Jabbari added.
Lukashenko didn’t specify precisely what number of Belarusian troopers have been deployed. Belarus’s skilled military numbers about 48,000 troopers and about 12,000 state border guards, in keeping with The Navy Steadiness 2022 evaluation by the Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research.
Assaults in progress
The feedback come towards the backdrop of a Ukrainian incursion into Russia that started on August 6, when 1000’s of Kiev troops stormed throughout Russia’s western border into the Kursk area in a significant embarrassment for Putin’s high army brass.
Ukrainian forces mentioned Sunday they attacked one other bridge within the Kursk area, looking for to disrupt Moscow’s fight operations within the space.
Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian drones attacked an oil storage facility in Russia’s southern Rostov area, inflicting a big gas fireplace, the regional governor confirmed.
“Within the south-east of the Rostov area, air defences repelled a drone assault. On account of particles falling on the territory of commercial storage services in Proletarsk, a diesel gas fireplace broke out,” Governor Vasily Golubev reported on Telegram. No accidents have been reported and a second drone assault came about shortly after, he added.
Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned its army shot down 5 Ukrainian “aircraft-type” drones in a single day, together with two over the Rostov area.
In the meantime, Ukrainian forces mentioned they thwarted a Russian missile assault on the capital kyiv, the place air raid sirens sounded earlier than daybreak on Sunday.
“That is the third ballistic missile assault on the capital in August with a transparent interval of six days between every assault,” the Kyiv Metropolis Navy Administration posted on Telegram after the early morning shelling.
Concurrently with the missile assault, drones have been noticed heading in direction of kyiv.
“All enemy drones have been destroyed removed from the town,” he added.
No injury or casualties have been reported within the assault, which the administration mentioned “most definitely used North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles.”
America and South Korea have accused North Korea of offering munitions and missiles to Russia for its struggle in Ukraine.
North Korea on Sunday condemned Ukraine’s incursion into Russia as an unforgivable act of terrorism backed by Washington and the West, including that it’ll at all times help Russia in its bid to guard its sovereignty. The US “anti-Russian coverage” is bringing the world nearer to World Struggle III, state media reported.
Zaporizhia Nuclear Energy Plant
The UN nuclear watchdog has warned that the safety scenario at Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear plant is “deteriorating” following a close-by drone assault.
The Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company (IAEA) warned on Saturday of escalating safety dangers on the plant, reporting “intense” army exercise over the previous week within the space, together with very near the plant.
“I stay deeply involved and reiterate my name for max restraint on all sides,” IAEA Director Rafael Grossi mentioned within the assertion, including that the “nuclear security scenario” on the plant was “deteriorating.”
On Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of setting off an explosive cost on a highway close to the occupied plant in southern Ukraine. The plant, seized by Russian forces initially of the struggle, has been the goal of repeated assaults, which either side blame one another for.
IAEA consultants on the web site reported that the injury “appeared to have been attributable to a drone outfitted with an explosive cost,” affecting the highway between the 2 most important gates of the plant.
“It isn’t clear to us whether or not the drone was concentrating on the nuclear plant itself,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Alex Gatapolous, reporting from kyiv.
“However it acquired shut sufficient to an influence line. These energy strains run by the plant and supply it with the emergency energy it will must shut down within the occasion of an accident,” he mentioned.
“Consideration on Zaporizhia seems to have come, whether or not by coincidence or not, as Ukrainian forces are just a few dozen kilometers from Russia’s Kursk nuclear energy plant,” Gatapolous added.
