kyiv accuses Moscow of 'dragging' Minsk 'into the war' by firing missiles from Belarus
According to kyiv, the shots in question came from Belarus on Saturday morning, a few hours before the meeting between Belarusian Presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They spoke in Saint Petersburg on June 25, 2022. © Sputnik/Maxim Blinov/Kremlin via Reuters
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3 mins
Twenty missiles were fired from Belarus towards a village in northern Ukraine on Saturday June 25.
The Ukrainian authorities claim that no casualties are to be deplored but Kiev accuses Moscow of wanting to "
draw
" Minsk into the conflict.
This while Belarus has an ambiguous posture and its president Alexander Lukashenko meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg on the same Saturday.
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Kiev on Saturday accused Moscow of wanting to "
draw
" Minsk, Russia's diplomatic ally, "
into the war
" in Ukraine, after reports earlier in the morning of Russian missiles fired from neighboring Belarus at a Ukrainian village.
"
Today's strike is directly linked to the Kremlin's efforts
to draw Belarus into the war
in Ukraine as a co-belligerent
," the Ukrainian General Intelligence Directorate, attached to the Defense Ministry, said on Telegram.
“
Around 5 a.m.
(2 a.m. UT, 4 a.m. Paris time),
the Cherniguiv region suffered a massive missile bombardment.
20 rockets targeted the village of Desna, fired from the territory of Belarus
(and also)
from the air
", the Northern command of the Ukrainian troops had indicated in the morning on Facebook, specifying that "
there was no victims
" at this stage.
“
An infrastructure was affected
,” said the Ukrainian army, without indicating whether it was military or not.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, “
six Tu-22M3 aircraft fired 12 cruise missiles from the town of Petrykaw
” in southern Belarus.
"
The bombers took off from Chaikovka airport in the Kaluga region (west) in Russia
", 270 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, he said.
“
They then entered the airspace of Belarus.
After launching the missiles, they returned to Russia
,” he said, adding that in addition to Desna, the Russians had hit targets “
in the Kiev and Sumy regions
” (northeast).
Putin and Lukashenko meet on Saturday in Saint Petersburg
Desna, a small village of 7,500 inhabitants before the war, is located 70 km north of kyiv and the same distance south of the border with Belarus.
The strike comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko are due to meet in St. Petersburg, Russia on Saturday.
The two presidents have already announced their intention to improve relations between their intelligence services.
Thursday June 30 and Friday July 1, the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov is also expected in Minsk.
Although not belligerent in the conflict with Ukraine at this stage, Belarus served as logistical support for Moscow's troops, especially in the first weeks of the Russian offensive.
The country, led by Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, has since been widely targeted by Western sanctions also taken against Russia.
It fully supports the Minsk regime,
especially in economic matters
, especially since the
disputed re
-election of Alexander Lukashenko in 2020.
(With AFP)
►
To read also:
These Belarusians in solidarity with Ukraine
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