Vladimir Putin heads for Belarus amid fears of new assault on Ukraine
The Hindu
Vladimir Putin’s visit for talks with Alexander Lukashenko will be his first to Minsk since 2019 - before the pandemic and a wave of Belarusian protests in 2020
Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin flies to Belarus on Monday amid fear in Kyiv that he intends to pressure the former Soviet ally to join a new ground offensive against Ukraine and reopen a new front.
Mr. Putin, whose invading troops have been buffeted and forced into retreats in Ukraine's north, northeast and south, is taking a more public role in the war and visited his operation's HQ to sound out military commanders on Friday about their next steps.
Mr. Putin’s visit for talks with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko will be his first to Minsk since 2019 - before the pandemic and a wave of Belarusian protests in 2020 that Lukashenko crushed with strong support from the Kremlin.
"During (these talks) questions will be worked out for further aggression against Ukraine and the broader involvement of the Belarusian armed forces in the operation against Ukraine, in particular, in our opinion, also on the ground," Ukrainian joint forces commander Serhiy Nayev said.
Ukraine's top General Valery Zaluzhniy told The Economist last week that Russia was preparing 200,000 fresh troops for a major offensive that could come from the east, south or even from Belarus as early as January, but more likely in spring.
There has been constant Russian and Belarusian military activity for months in Belarus, a close Kremlin ally that Moscow's troops used as a launch pad for their abortive attack on Kyiv in February.
Moscow and Minsk have since set up a joint regional unit of forces in Belarus and held numerous military exercises. Three Russian warplanes and an airborne early warning and control aircraft were deployed to Belarus last week.
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