Anticipate Russia Using Territory To Belarus Army For War, Ukraine: We Are Ready

Ukrainian border guards with Belarus. (Wikimedia Commons / dpsu.gov.ua / Sergey Deyneko)

JAKARTA - The Ukrainian State Border Service Authority said Kyiv was ready to face if Belarusian armed forces joined Russia's war effort in Ukraine.

Belarus, a close ally of Russia, said its military had started large-scale drills on Wednesday to test their combat readiness, at the same time insisting it would pose no threat to Ukraine.

"We do not rule out that the Russian Federation may at some point use the territory of Belarus, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, against Ukraine," Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for Ukraine's State Border Service, told Reuters on May 4.

"Therefore, we are ready," he stressed, adding that the border with Belarus has been strengthened since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. read more

Russia launched the invasion after holding joint exercises with Belarus, which allowed it to move more troops closer to the border with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian territory adjacent to Belarus was under Russian attack in the early stages of the invasion, but Russian attacks are now focused on eastern and southeastern Ukraine.

Demchenko said Ukraine had also strengthened its border with the Russia-backed region of Transdniestria, where tensions have risen since local authorities said the region had been the target of a series of attacks.

Previously, Ukrainian officials had expressed concern about the situation in Transdniestria, and condemned what they said were Russia's attempts to drag the region into Russia's war against Ukraine.

On the other hand, Moscow has also voiced concern and said it is following events in Transdniestria closely.

Separately, Kent Logsdon, the United States Ambassador to Moldova said on Wednesday Russia's invasion of Ukraine and what he described as an attempt to redraw the map of Europe at gunpoint, are a cause of great concern worldwide.

But he told a conference in Moldova Washington had no evidence that Moscow wanted to extend the war to Moldova, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin would lose the war, Moldovan media reported.