Belarus Deploys More Troops, Planes And Weapons To Ukrainian Borders

Illustration of the Belarusian army. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - Belarus said on Monday it had sent planes, air defense forces, and weapons to its border with Ukraine, a day after President Alexander Lukashenko said he had deployed nearly a third of his country's armed forces to the region.

"The number of troops has increased significantly, and they are currently serving on the southern border of our country," Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense Commander Major General Andrei Lukyanovich told CTV.

Aviation forces, anti-aircraft missiles, and radio-technical forces were deployed to the border, said Major General Lukyanovich, according to a transcript provided on the CTV website.

Major General Lukyanovich told CTV Belarus also expects more military aircraft shipments from Moscow this year, while Minsk is working hard to strengthen its anti-drone system.

"The fact that drones are an outbreak of the 21st century is clear," said Major General Lukyanovich.

"This is a big problem, which, in my opinion, we will find a way to overcome it," he said.

Days after a sudden Ukrainian attack on Russian territory, President Lukashenko, a staunch ally of President Vladimir Putin, accused Kyiv of aggressive policies and sending more than 120,000 troops to the border with Belarus.

Ukraine says it does not see an increase in the number of Belarusian troops on the border and calls President Lukashenko's statement "retoric" aimed at pleasing President Putin, who used Belarus as a launch pad to start his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Moscow called the war a "special military operation." While Kyiv and his allies said it was an unwarranted imperialist attempt to seize land, which has since killed thousands of people and displaced millions of Ukrainians, turning cities into rubble.