Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says Kyiv has stationed greater than 120,000 squaddies alongside its border with Belarus, the rustic’s state information company reported, as combating continues amid Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk area.
Lukashenko, a staunch best friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, mentioned on Sunday that Minsk had deployed just about a 3rd of its militia alongside all the border in accordance with the Ukrainian deployment, BelTA reported. Kyiv didn’t right away reply to the claims.
“Seeing their competitive coverage, now we have offered there and positioned in sure issues – in case of warfare, they’d be defence – our army alongside all the border,” BelTA quoted Lukashenko as announcing in an interview with Russian state tv.
Lukashenko is “turning in some very severe threats to officers in Kyiv”, mentioned Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow.
The president made it transparent that are meant to Ukraine take a look at to go into Belarusian soil, they’ll be at the offensive, Jabbari added.
Lukashenko didn’t say precisely what number of Belarusian squaddies have been deployed. Belarus’s skilled military has about 48,000 squaddies and a few 12,000 state border staff, in step with The Army Stability 2022 evaluation of the World Institute for Strategic Research.
Ongoing assaults
The feedback come towards the backdrop of a Ukrainian incursion into Russia that started on August 6, when 1000’s of Kyiv’s squaddies smashed via Russia’s western border into the Kursk area in a significant embarrassment for Putin’s army most sensible brass.
Ukrainian forces on Sunday mentioned they struck every other bridge within the Kursk area, in the hunt for to disrupt Moscow’s struggle operations within the house.
Previous on Sunday, Ukrainian drones attacked an oil garage facility in Russia’s southern Rostov area, sparking a big gasoline fireplace, the regional governor showed.
“Within the south-east of the Rostov area, air defences repelled a drone assault. Because of falling particles at the territory of business garage amenities in Proletarsk, a diesel gasoline fireplace broke out,” Governor Vasily Golubev mentioned on Telegram. No accidents have been reported and a 2d drone assault in a while afterwards, he mentioned.
The Russian Ministry of Defence mentioned its army shot down 5 “aircraft-type” Ukrainian drones in a single day, together with two over the Rostov area.
Ukrainian forces in the meantime mentioned they thwarted a Russian missile assault at the capital, Kyiv, the place air raid sirens sounded earlier than break of day on Sunday.
“That is the 3rd ballistic missile assault at the capital in August with a transparent period of six days between each and every assault,” the Kyiv Town Army Management posted on Telegram after the early morning barrage.
Simultaneous to the missile assault, drones have been noticed heading to Kyiv.
“All enemy drones have been destroyed a ways outdoor town,” it added.
No harm or casualties have been reported from the assault, which the management mentioned had “in all probability used North Korean ballistic missiles of the KN-23 sort”.
The US and South Korea have accused North Korea of offering ammunition and missiles to Russia for its warfare in Ukraine.
North Korea on Sunday condemned Ukraine’s incursion into Russia as an unforgivable act of terror subsidized through Washington and the West, including it is going to all the time stand with Russia because it seeks to give protection to its sovereignty. The USA’s “anti-Russia coverage” used to be bringing the sector nearer to International Battle III, state media reported.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant
In different places, the United Countries nuclear watchdog warned that the protection state of affairs at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant is “deteriorating” following a drone strike within reach.
The World Atomic Power Company (IAEA) warned on Saturday of an escalation within the safety risks on the plant, reporting “intense” army job over the last week within the house, together with very as regards to the plant.
“I stay extraordinarily involved and reiterate my name for optimum restraint from either side,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi mentioned within the observation, including the “nuclear protection state of affairs” on the plant used to be “deteriorating”.
On Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of shedding an explosive price on a highway close to the occupied plant in southern Ukraine. The plant, seized through Russian forces early within the warfare, has come beneath repeated assaults that all sides have accused each and every different of sporting out.
IAEA professionals on web page reported that the wear and tear “looked as if it would had been brought about through a drone provided with an explosive payload”, affecting the street between the plant’s two major gates.
“We’re now not transparent whether or not the drone used to be focused on the nuclear energy plant itself,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Alex Gatapolous, reporting from Kyiv.
“Nevertheless it got here shut sufficient to an influence line. Those energy traces run throughout the plant and supply it with the emergency power that it will want so to close down in case of any twist of fate,” he defined.
“The eye on Zaporizhzhia turns out to have come, whether or not coincidentally or now not, as Ukrainian forces are simplest a number of dozen kilometres clear of the Kursk nuclear energy plant in Russia,” Gatapolous added.
