Kremlin told Belarus to keep Ukrainian forces on alert
Alexander Lukashenko (Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS)
Minsk
likely received orders from Moscow to keep Ukrainian forces engaged near the
northern border, thereby reducing the reserves available to Kyiv for countering
Russian offensives, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) said
on April 17.
The statement was made by Andriy Kovalenko, the head of NSDC’s Center for Countering Disinformation.
“It appears Belarus actually received an order from Russia — before their spring‑summer attempt at offensive operations in the east and south — to keep our forces under strain,” Kovalenko said in a Telegram post.
“In any case, provocations from Belarus would be a mistake by [self-proclaimed leader Alexander] Lukashenko and his regime.”
Earlier on April 17, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, citing a report from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russia still hopes to draw Belarus into the war against Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said intelligence indicates roads are being built
in Belarus toward Ukrainian territory and artillery positions are being
prepared near the border.
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