Nearly 1,500 Russian troops remain in Belarus, Ukraine says
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The number of Russian troops stationed in Belarus has slightly gone up, with about 1,500 remaining in the country, Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service, said on national television on June 22.
“The Russian military continues to be deployed on the territory of Belarus, but the Russian army units stationed on the territory of this country are more involved in military drills and training,” he said.
“Fortunately, their number is currently small. That is, we aren’t seeing that Russia has enough forces on the territory of Belarus to carry out another invasion of the territory of Ukraine from this direction.”
Demchenko reiterated that over 10,000 Russian military personnel had been deployed in Belarus at the beginning of the current year.
“At the moment, we fixed this number at the level of 1,500 servicemen,” the official said.
“Their number has recently slightly increased, by about 500 people.”
Directly prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko provided Belarusian territory as a staging ground for the invading forces. The troops gathered in Belarus were primarily used to attack the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv. The Russian army also continues to launch missile strikes at Ukraine from Belarus.
Belarusian troops do not directly participate in hostilities. However, experts have warned that it is possible for Belarus or Russia to attempt another attack on Kyiv from the north.
Ukrainian Joint Forces Commander Lieutenant-General Serhiy Nayev said on Feb. 22 that Russia does not have the resources needed for an offensive in the north of Ukraine.
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