Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says Kyiv has stationed greater than 120,000 infantrymen alongside its border with Belarus, the rustic’s situation information company reported, as combating continues amid Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk pocket.
Lukashenko, a staunch best friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, stated on Sunday that Minsk had deployed just about a 3rd of its militia alongside all of the border in accordance with the Ukrainian deployment, BelTA reported. Kyiv didn’t instantly reply to the claims.
“Seeing their aggressive policy, we have introduced there and placed in certain points – in case of war, they would be defence – our military along the entire border,” BelTA quoted Lukashenko as pronouncing in an interview with Russian situation tv.
Lukashenko is “delivering some very serious threats to officials in Kyiv”, stated Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabari, reporting from Moscow.
The president made it sunlit that are supposed to Ukraine struggle to go into Belarusian park, they’ll be at the offensive, Jabari added.
Lukashenko didn’t say precisely what number of Belarusian infantrymen have been deployed. Belarus’s skilled military has about 48,000 infantrymen and a few 12,000 situation border body of workers, consistent with The Army Steadiness 2022 review of the Global Institute for Strategic Research.
Ongoing assaults
The feedback come in opposition to the backdrop of a Ukrainian incursion into Russia that started on August 6, when 1000’s of Kyiv’s infantrymen smashed thru Russia’s western border into the Kursk pocket in a big embarrassment for Putin’s army manage brass.
Ukrainian forces on Sunday stated they struck some other bridge within the Kursk pocket, searching for to disrupt Moscow’s battle operations within the branch.
Previous on Sunday, Ukrainian drones attacked an oil deposit facility in Russia’s southern Rostov pocket, sparking a immense gasoline hearth, the regional governor showed.
“In the south-east of the Rostov region, air defences repelled a drone attack. As a result of falling debris on the territory of industrial storage facilities in Proletarsk, a diesel fuel fire broke out,” Governor Vasily Golubev stated on Telegram. Deny accidents have been reported and a 2d drone assault in a while afterwards, he stated.
The Russian Ministry of Defence stated its army shot ill 5 “aircraft-type” Ukrainian drones in a single day, together with two over the Rostov pocket.
Ukrainian forces in the meantime stated they thwarted a Russian missile assault at the capital, Kyiv, the place wind raid sirens sounded earlier than crack of dawn on Sunday.
“This is the third ballistic missile attack on the capital in August with a clear interval of six days between each attack,” the Kyiv Town Army Management posted on Telegram then the early morning barrage.
Occuring together to the missile assault, drones have been noticed heading to Kyiv.
“All enemy drones were destroyed far outside the city,” it added.
Deny injury or casualties have been reported from the assault, which the management stated had “most likely used North Korean ballistic missiles of the KN-23 type”.
The USA and South Korea have accused North Korea of offering ammunition and missiles to Russia for its struggle in Ukraine.
North Korea on Sunday condemned Ukraine’s incursion into Russia as an unforgivable business of terror subsidized by way of Washington and the West, including it’ll at all times arise with Russia because it seeks to give protection to its independence. The United States’s “anti-Russia policy” used to be bringing the sector nearer to International Battle III, situation media reported.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant
In different places, the United Countries nuclear watchdog warned that the protection status at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant is “deteriorating” following a drone accident within sight.
The Global Atomic Power Company (IAEA) warned on Saturday of an escalation within the safety risks on the plant, reporting “intense” army task over the age future within the branch, together with very alike to the plant.
“I remain extremely concerned and reiterate my call for maximum restraint from all sides,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi stated within the remark, including the “nuclear safety situation” on the plant used to be “deteriorating”.
On Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of shedding an explosive price on a street related the engaged plant in southern Ukraine. The plant, seized by way of Russian forces early within the struggle, has come underneath repeated assaults that either side have accused every alternative of wearing out.
IAEA professionals on web page reported that the wear and tear “seemed to have been caused by a drone equipped with an explosive payload”, affecting the street between the plant’s two major gates.
“We’re not clear whether the drone was targeting the nuclear power plant itself,” stated Al Jazeera’s Alex Gatapolous, reporting from Kyiv.
“But it came close enough to a power line. These power lines run through the plant and provide it with the emergency energy that it would need to be able to shut down in case of any accident,” he defined.
“The attention on Zaporizhzhia seems to have come, whether coincidentally or not, as Ukrainian forces are only several dozen kilometres away from the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia,” Gatapolous added.