Ukraine's defense units preparing for possible attack on Belarusian border: Report

Ukraine’s armed forces have dug trenches and constructed a new line of defences along the previously unfortified northern border with Russia’s staunch ally Belarus, anticipating an attack from Minsk. As Moscow launched its invasion in February, troops entered Ukraine from the Belarusian border as they attempted to capture the capital, Kyiv.

In May, Belarus’s army chief, Viktor Gulevich, announced that Minsk was deploying the special forces and military equipment in response to a “certain threat” from the Southern border. Belarusian forces have also been conducting frequent military drills, as the threat of a conflict loomed large with the defence alliance NATO and Russia over Finland and Sweden’s membership bid. 

Belarusian President, Aleksander Lukashenko also urged the Russian-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, which met in Moscow, to remain united. He recently also launched a scathing attack on the West for prolonging the conflict in Ukraine. Reports also floated that the Belarusian airborne force was preparing to invade Ukraine on another frontier. Some of the troops were preparing for a deployment in or near Kyiv and Zhytomyr.

Russian, Belarusian troops mobilized two military transport planes from airfield 

Russian and Belarusian troops were also monitored mobilizing at least two military transport planes that took off from an airfield in the west, according to a Telegram channel that tracked their movement. Belarus has also been de facto conducting war against Ukraine by harbouring the Russian troops on its territory.

Ukraine's territorial defence unit has, with soldiers aged 19 and the mid-60s, are now manning a community of trenches and combat positions in the forests alongside the Belarusian border, armed with AK47s. While Ukraine shut its borders with both Russia and Belarus shortly after the invasion in February, it has now installed small kiosk-like checkpoints and soldiers have been vigilantly guarding the posts, reporters from The Guardian newspaper learnt. 

In its intelligence update that evaluated the threat emanating from Belarus, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said that the presence of Belarusian forces on the border "would most likely forestall Ukraine from deploying assist operations on its Donbass entrance." 

“We’ll be in the frying pan,” Vova, who volunteered to combat within the Donbass in 2014 and was within the Soviet military, said sarcastically to the reporter. 

“They took the first 500 men in the queue that day, but there were over 800 of us,” stated Ihor, another fighter who was in the makeshift military barracks close to the Belarusian border told the paper. “I’ve got hypertension, he’s got hypertension, he’s on insulin,” he continued pointing to other soldiers. While the Ukraine's military unit on alert near the Belarus border has no command over the heavy artillery models of the enemy, they underscore their knowledge of the native geography of the area as the miles-long terrain that leads down the border has thick forests and are challenging to navigate.