Lukashenko announces joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises near Ukrainian border
Russia and Belarus will hold joint military exercises near the Ukrainian border, said the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
"We have agreed with President Putin that in the near future we should hold exercises together on the southern borders, the Belarusian-Ukrainian border," Lukashenko said.
He noted that the exercises are planned to be held in two stages. The first stage will be held in the winter. According to him, everything is ready for this.
Earlier, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin spoke about plans to conduct military exercises on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. According to him, there are plans for a set of measures to protect the southern borders of Belarus. Khrenin also ruled out holding large-scale exercises in 2022 similar to Zapad or Shield of the Union, which were held in 2021.
On September 10 - 15, Russia and Belarus held Zapad-2021 exercises. They took place across 14 military training grounds, nine in Russia and five in Belarus. Russia said that the purpose of these exercises was to test the combat readiness and ability of the military command to ensure the security of the Union State.
About 200 thousand servicemen took part in the exercises, which involved with 760 units of military equipment, including more than 290 tanks, 15 ships, more than 240 artillery units, multiple launch rocket systems and mortars, 80 aircraft and helicopters.
Armenia, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia took part in these exercises.