kyiv, Aug 25 (EFE).- The Ukrainian government warned on Sunday that according to intelligence information, the armed forces of Belarus are concentrating a significant number of troops and weapons in the Gomel region, near the northern Ukrainian border, under the guise of military maneuvers.
The presence of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group has also been recorded, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“We warn Belarusian officials against making tragic mistakes for their country under pressure from Moscow and urge the Belarusian armed forces to avoid hostile actions and to withdraw from the Ukrainian border to a distance greater than the range of their weapons systems,” the ministry said.
kyiv has also warned that the exercises allegedly being carried out by Belarus near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant jeopardize Ukraine’s national security and global security in general.
If the Minsk forces violate Ukraine’s state borders, kyiv will take “all necessary measures to exercise the right to self-defense guaranteed by the UN Charter,” the statement said.
In that case, all troop concentrations, military facilities and supply routes inside Belarus would become legitimate targets for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he concluded.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian border guards had stated that the situation on the border with Belarus remained stable and that no changes or irregularities had been detected.
A week ago, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that a third of his country’s army would be sent to the thousand-kilometer-long border with Ukraine in response to the reinforcement of Ukrainian troops deployed on the border between the two countries. EFE
