Sunday, April 19, 2026

Ukraine Believes Russia Will Try to Involve Belarus in the War

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukraine believed Russia was making preparations that showed that it would once again try to involve its ally Belarus in the four-year-old war pitting Kyiv against Moscow.

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New roads, artillery positions built in Belarus near Ukraine border, Zelensky says "We believe that Russia will once again attempt to drag Belarus into its war," Zelensky said.

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-- The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) Apr 17, 2026 at 2:44 PM

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More from the article ...

... "According to intelligence, road construction in areas leading to Ukraine and the establishment of artillery positions are going on in the Belarusian border area," Zelenskiy wrote.

"We believe that Russia will once again try to involve Belarus in its war."

Zelenskiy said Ukraine had issued instructions to warn the Belarusian leadership of "Ukraine's readiness to defend its land and independence".

He also said intelligence showed that Russia was "attempting ... to carry out a regrouping of forces -- most likely to compensate for a shortage of personnel."

"In this regard, it becomes more evident why the armed forces increased their activity on the territory of Belarus." He did not provide further evidence.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, one of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's closest allies, allowed his territory to be used for part of Russia's February 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour.

Lukashenko, in power since 1994, has said he has no intention of committing troops to the war in Ukraine.

But Belarus, which borders NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, has since agreed to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons and Russia's hypersonic Oreshnik missiles. ...



#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-04-18 05:51 PM

Some ally.

#2 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-04-18 07:23 PM

"Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, one of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's closest allies, allowed his territory to be used for part of Russia's February 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour."

Doesn't Reuters have editors who understand grammar and clear communication in writing? This is a faulty pronoun that creates ambiguity about whether "its" is intended to refer to Russia or Belarus, unless the readers are already aware that Ukraine is larger than Belarus (which most of them probably aren't).

#3 | Posted by sentinel at 2026-04-19 10:02 AM

... President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukraine believed Russia was making preparations that showed that it would once again try to involve its ally Belarus in the four-year-old war pitting Kyiv against Moscow. ...

Similar to Pres Putin using Belarus in his initial unprovoked invasion of Ukraine?

An invasion that would only take a few days to complete?

#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-04-19 08:58 PM

Putin is finding it harder to replace all the troops he's losing so he would .love a fresh supply of cannon fodder from Belarus.

#5 | Posted by danni at 2026-04-20 12:30 PM

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