Belarus says it has sent planes, air defense forces and weapons to its border with Ukraine, which happens a day after President Alexander Lukashenko announced that he has deployed nearly a third of his country's armed forces in the region, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"The grouping has been significantly increased and they are currently on duty on the southern borders of our country,” the Commander of the Air Force and Air Defense of Belarus, Major General Andrey Lukyanovich, told the state television.
Aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops and radio engineering troops are stationed at the border, Lukyanovic said.
Days after the surprise incursion of Ukrainian units into Russian territory, Lukashenko, a staunch ally of President Vladimir Putin, accused Kiev of an aggressive policy and of sending more than 120,000 of its troops to the border with Belarus.
Ukraine said it had not noticed an increase in Belarusian troops on the border and called Lukashenko's statements "rhetoric" aimed at pleasing Putin, who is using Belarus to launch his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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Lukyanovich told television that Belarus also expects more deliveries of military aircraft from Moscow this year and that Minsk is putting efforts into strengthening its anti-drone systems.
"The fact that drones are the plague of the 21st century is obvious,” Lukyanovic said. "This is a headache that I think we will find a way to counter.“
Russian drones are flying in the direction of Mykolaiv Oblast, the Air Force of the Ukrainian Army reported in the Telegram application, BTA reported.
According to their information, the drones are moving from the Kherson region to Nikolaevsk.
Air sirens throughout the Nikolaev region were activated at 9:49 p.m. This was informed by regional governor Vitaly Kim.
According to the last census in Ukraine in 2001, the Bulgarian community in Mykolaiv Oblast numbered 5,600 people. Bulgarians live compactly in the Ternovka district, located within the boundaries of the regional Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. The number of the Bulgarian community there is close to 5 thousand people. The first Bulgarian settlers founded the Bulgarian settlement of Ternovka near the city of Nikolaev in 1802.