The authorities in Kyiv have rejected Belarus' claims that Ukraine is destabilizing the common border between the two countries and emphasized that measures are being taken to strengthen the Ukrainian defense lines, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
„There is no provocation,” said Ukrainian border guard spokesman Andrii Demchenko. “They probably got it wrong,”, he added.
„The real threat comes from Belarus. Sufficient Russian troops are stationed there,” Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said for his part. Kovalenko accused the Russian army of trying to prevent the transfer of Ukrainian troops stationed along the border with Belarus to the zones of active hostilities.
Belarusian border guards announced this week that they are deploying additional units along the border with Ukraine in response to alleged acts of espionage and sabotage being prepared by Kiev, DPA recalls.
Earlier on Saturday, Minsk said that a cache of weapons had been discovered in the border area, and that it had information that Russian paramilitary units fighting on the side of Kiev were operating nearby.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is highly dependent on Russia economically, politically and militarily, and his country is Moscow's staunchest supporter in its war with Ukraine, DPA notes. Although there is no direct participation of Belarusian troops in the hostilities, the country provided territory for the Russian army to attack Ukraine.