Russia’s ally Belarus is poised to joint the assault on Ukraine, Government officials fear.
The country could send special forces to join the fight in Kyiv in an escalation of the fighting in eastern Europe, according to multiple reports.
Dictator Alexander Lukashenko has already allowed Russian troops to use his country’s border with Ukraine, which is closest to Kyiv. Missiles have also been fired from Belarussian territory.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he had spoken by phone to Lukashenko without revealing any more details.
Earlier he rejected a Russian offer of peace talks because they would be held in Belarus.
Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Ukraine’s former defence minister, believes Belarus may get further involved after a direct demand from Vladimir Putin, The Guardian reported.
He told the paper: ‘Republic of Belarus is highly likely to join the Russian war against Ukraine. On Russian side. There is an information about airborne troopers from Republic of Belarus loaded on the planes to enter Ukraine.
‘This is a terrible development as it involves a country, which until very recently was a great friend of Ukraine; which people always considered Ukraine as a brotherly nation. Ukraine and Belarus has never been to war one with another in their many hundred years of history.’
Special ops troops were reportedly seen loading up planes for an attack on Kyiv, the Mirror reported, citing a senior Ukrainian source.
Russian troops were joined by the Belarussian army for ‘exercises’ in a show of strength ahead of the invasion earlier this month.
Lukashenko is currently asking his citizens to vote on constitutional amendments which would allow him to stay in power until 2035.
He cracked down on widespread protests in 2020, which led to him being hit with further sanctions from the west.
Zelensky has issued a video message rebuking Belarussians for allowing their country to be used as a staging ground for an invasion the likes of which has not been seen since the Second World War.
Back then, both Belarus and Ukraine faced a Nazi invasion as parts of the Soviet Union.
‘But you aren’t on the same side with us in the war that is going on now,’ Mr Zelensky said in Russian, which is widely spoken in Belarus.
‘The Russian military is launching missiles at Ukraine from your territory. From your territory they are killing our children, they are destroying our homes and trying to blow up everything that has been built for decades.’
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In an emotional speech, the Ukrainian leader questioned how Belarusians will be able ‘to look into the eyes of your children, into the eyes of each other’.
‘We are your neighbours. Be Belarus, not Russia,’ he said.
Lukashenko quickly hit back, calling the Ukrainian president an American puppet and claiming that the Russian attack resulted from Zelensky’s failure to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand for Ukraine to renounce its bid to join Nato.
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