Ukraine calls on Belarus to withdraw troops from border

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Kyiv warned neighboring Belarus not to make any “tragic mistakes” and called on Minsk to withdraw what it described as a "significant number" of troops near the Ukraine border.

“We warn Belarusian officials not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscow's pressure, and we urge its armed forces to cease unfriendly actions and withdraw forces away from Ukraine's state border to a distance greater than the firing range of Belarus' systems,” said a statement by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry late Sunday.

The statement said data from Ukrainian intelligence agencies suggests that the Belarusian military is “concentrating a significant number of personnel” in the country’s Gomel region near the Ukraine border “under the guise of exercises.”

Claiming that troops from the Wagner paramilitary group were also recorded to be present, the statement warned such exercises near the border and in close proximity to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security and global security as a whole.

“We emphasize that Ukraine has never taken and is not going to take any unfriendly actions against the Belarusian people,” the statement said, adding that Kyiv will take “all necessary measures” to exercise its right to self-defense under the UN Charter.

“Consequently, all troop concentrations, military facilities, and supply routes in Belarus will become legitimate targets for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” it added.

Minsk’s ties with neighboring Kyiv have deteriorated over its support for Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, which continues into its third year.

Belarusian authorities have not yet commented on Ukraine's claims.

On Aug. 18, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that nearly a third of his country's military has been deployed along the entire border.