Why is Belarus amassing troops along its border with Ukraine?
Al Jazeera
Ukraine has called on Belarus to pull back its forces from border amid new regional tensions after Kursk incursion in Russia.
Ukraine has asked Belarus to pull back forces that it has sent to their border amid rising military tensions between the neighbours following the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
The latest warning from Ukraine follows two weeks of sharpening rhetoric, accusations and countercharges levelled by Kyiv and Minsk at each other. This, at a time when Russia — which counts Belarus as its most steadfast ally — has threatened a firm response to Ukraine’s Kursk offensive.
So what is really going on between Ukraine and Belarus, and could their border emerge as the latest theatre for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war?
Late on Sunday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Belarus to withdraw a build-up of its troops from their border and to “stop unfriendly actions”.
It cited intelligence to accuse Belarus of “concentrating a significant number of personnel, including Special Operations Forces, weapons and military equipment” in the Gomel region near Ukraine’s northern border “under the guise of exercises”.
