The Russian army takes control of the city of Maryanka in Donetsk and bombs Kyiv with marches

Putin in Belarus amid fears of a new attack on Ukraine

Putin and Lukashenko during their talks in Minsk.

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Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Belarus, which raises fears in Kyiv that he intends to pressure the former Soviet ally to participate in a new field offensive that would open a new front on Ukraine, at a time when Russian forces have made progress in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. In a number of areas, it intercepted a number of HIMARS missiles launched at Russian territory, while it launched an attack with drones targeting the Kyiv region.

Russian state television broadcast scenes showing Putin getting off the plane before being greeted warmly by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, along with other officials, on the tarmac.

This meeting between the Russian and Belarusian presidents comes at a time when the Ukrainian authorities are hesitant that they fear a Russian attack on Kyiv from Belarusian territory in the first months of 2023, in a scenario similar to that which happened when the war broke out on February 24.

President Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, is an old ally of the Kremlin, and he allowed Russian soldiers to use his country's territory as a platform to launch their military operations.

Before the arrival of the Russian President, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Minsk yesterday, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Russian forces used Belarus as a launching pad for the unsuccessful attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in February, and military activity from Russia and Belarus continued for months there.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that Belarus is Russia's "first ally", but suggestions that Moscow aims to pressure Minsk to participate in what it calls a "special military operation" are "stupid and baseless fabrications".

And the commander of the Ukrainian joint forces, Serhiy Naif, said that he believes that the talks will deal with “another aggression against Ukraine, and the broader participation of the Armed Forces of Belarus in the operation against Ukraine, namely, in our opinion, also in the field.”

The commander of Ukraine's armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny, told The Economist last week that Russia is preparing 200,000 new troops for a major offensive that could be launched from the east, south or even from Belarus in January at the earliest, and most likely in the spring.

Moscow and Minsk established a joint military unit in Belarus, and conducted several exercises.

Warplanes, airborne early warning and Russian surveillance aircraft were deployed to Belarus last week.

But Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a pariah in the West who relies heavily on Moscow for support, has long said his country will not go to war in Ukraine.

Foreign diplomats say the involvement of Belarusian forces would be widely rejected in the country.

On the ground, the pro-Moscow authorities in Donetsk announced that the forces had taken control of the center of the city of Maryanka, and had evacuated it from the Ukrainian forces.

The leader of the pro-Moscow separatists in the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, announced that Russian forces had taken control of Maryanka and the heights that Ukrainian forces had taken as their headquarters.

Pushilin indicated, in a press statement, that "the Kyiv forces remained in a small part of the city, and that work is underway to liberate it, after which work will be done to liberate the city of Krasnogorovka directly."

In his statements, Pushilin added that the Russian forces are increasing the areas they control in Donetsk, and he said: "As for the direction of Avdiyevsk, the Russian forces will focus their efforts on liberating the village of Pervomaisky, which will open the way for liberating more lands."

He explained that "the Ukrainian forces are still launching counterattacks in the Mayorsk region, but the Russian units are holding out against them and advancing towards Dzerzhinsk."

He stressed the importance of the city of Chasov Yar in the Artyomovsk axis, where Ukraine deployed its offensive forces.

In addition, the Russian forces made another progress, earlier, on the Donetsk axis, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on Sunday.

And on the Donetsk axis, it continued its offensive operations, and took control of the village of Yakovlevka, located in Donetsk territory.

The losses of the Ukrainian forces on the Krasny Lyman axis amounted to 70 soldiers, and 8 Ukrainian marches and 4 American “HIMARS” anti-radar missiles were shot down over the Russian Belgorod, the day before yesterday.

In Kyiv, the governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, said that a Russian attack with drones caused severe damage yesterday, and that 3 areas were without electricity.

Russia launched 35 suicide drone attacks on Ukraine in the early hours of yesterday morning, while many residents were asleep.

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