Ukraine officials claim to have seen Belarusian forces crossing the northern border to assist Russia in its invasion. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko denied these allegations on Tuesday morning.
Ukraine’s Parliament confirmed earlier reports released by journalists and intelligence alleging that Belarusian troops were mustering. However, Lukashenko says that Belarus has not crossed into Ukrainian territory and that it has no plans to invade
“Belarusian troops have entered Chernihiv region. The information was confirmed to the public by Vitaliy Kyrylov, spokesman for the North Territorial Defense Forces. More details later,” the Parliament said in a Tuesday morning tweet.
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Local reports also confirmed that a Belarusian column of 33 units entered the Chernihiv region on Tuesday, with residents of local towns reporting the movement of military equipment with white circles on it.
However, U.S. officials are less convinced. The Pentagon has seen “no indication” that Belarusian forces have entered Ukraine, a senior defense official told reporters on Tuesday.
Several sources had confirmed the potential of such an invasion over the weekend. Belarusian opposition journalists had released reports to diplomats on Sunday alleging that Belarus special forces had been observed boarding planes and preparing for deployment in or near Kyiv. The claims were corroborated by an unnamed U.S. official, who told the Washington Post on Sunday that Belarus was preparing to send forces as early as Monday to support Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he had recently called Lukashenko, who told him that he would not get involved in Putin’s war. Lukashenko even offered to have Russian and Ukrainian officials meet on Belarus’s border to begin peace negotiations. While Zelensky was unconvinced the talks would succeed, he still decided to move forward. The two delegations had the first round of negotiations on Monday morning.
Lukashenko said last week that Belarusian forces would get involved if it became necessary. “Our troops are not participating in any way in this operation. We’re not going to justify ourselves here about our participation or non-participation in this conflict. I repeat once again. Our troops are not there, but if it becomes necessary, if Belarus and Russia need them, they will be there,” the dictator said in footage posted by Belarusian state media.
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Others, such as former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk, believe that Lukashenko is highly indebted to Putin and would not be able to say no to the Russian president.
Belarus voted in favor of allowing Putin to use Belarus as a staging area during the invasion of Ukraine. This includes allowing Putin to house Russian troops and nuclear weapons within Belarusian borders.
