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TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarus has deployed aircraft and air defense forces to its border with Ukraine, a day after President Alexander Lukashenko said he would deploy nearly a third of the country's military along the frontier.
The Belarusian military has also deployed anti-aircraft missiles and troops from the country's radio-technical corps, Major General Andrei Lukyanovich, commander of the Belarusian air defense forces, said on national television, calling the move a significant increase.
Belarusian authoritarian leader Lukashenko said Sunday he had ordered nearly a third of his army to the border with Ukraine. While he did not specify the numbers, Belarus’s military numbers about 60,000 troops.
Lukashenko said the decision was in response to the deployment of additional Ukrainian troops along the border, but this could not be independently verified.
Ukraine has not confirmed the deployment of Belarusian troops on the 1,084-kilometre (675-mile) common border.
Russia has used Belarus—which relies on Russian loans and cheap energy—as a launching pad for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, moving troops across Belarus to attack Ukraine from the north. Russia also moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus in 2023.
Lukashenko also called on Sunday for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine but said Kyiv's current incursion into Russia's Kursk region had prevented talks. He described the “escalation” as an attempt to provoke Moscow.
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