Accusing Ukraine of preparing an attack against his country, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday that he was going to deploy Russian-Belarusian troops, without specifying their location.
"Yesterday, through unofficial channels, we were warned of a strike being prepared from Ukrainian territory on Belarus," he said, according to the state news agency Belta, assuring that Ukraine wanted to make "a Crimean bridge number 2", in reference to the partially destroyed Russian bridge on Saturday.
According to him, he sent the message to the Ukrainian president not to touch "his dirty paws even one meter of Belarusian territory".
“If you want peace, prepare for war”
He also said that last week he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed on the deployment of a joint military group, without saying where it will be deployed and how many men it would be made up of.
"Due to the worsening of the situation on the western borders of the Union (Russian-Belarusian), we have agreed to deploy a regional grouping of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus", said Alexander Lukashenko during of a meeting with Belarusian security officials, quoted by Belta.
“If you want peace, prepare for war,” President Lukashenko said again, affirming that “there must be no war on the territory of Belarus”.
Belarus, Russia's ally in its conflict with Ukraine, has lent its territory to the Russian army for its offensive against Ukraine, but the Belarusian army has not so far taken part in the fighting on Ukrainian territory.
The entry of Belarusian forces into its neighbor would mark a new escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.
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