Air Forces: Belarus and Russia start maneuvers

Russian Air Force units have arrived in Belarus. The allies started a joint maneuver of their troops in the morning. The government in Minsk says these are just exercises – Ukraine is concerned.

Belarus and Russia have started a joint maneuver of their air forces. The Belarusian Ministry of Defense announced in Minsk that the main goal of the joint tactical exercise by flight units from different military units was to “strengthen operational compatibility” between the two armies.

The country is closely allied with Russia but has so far not participated in Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, units of the Russian Air Force have arrived in Belarus in the past few days to take part in the exercises. The ministry did not provide information on the number of soldiers involved. Recently, Russia had also relocated military technology and a total of thousands of soldiers to Belarus.

Ukraine fears attacks from Belarus

In neighboring Ukraine, there are still fears that Russia could use Belarus to attack the country again, as it did at the beginning of the war a good year ago. The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko had always emphasized that he did not want to be drawn into the war. However, Ukraine has long seen Belarus as a war party.

Western military experts have always warned of the risk of an attack on Ukraine from Belarus. However, they do not consider a new offensive from there to be very likely at the moment because, among other things, the concentration of troops is too low.

The Ukrainian military nevertheless described the danger as real. After new massive rocket attacks on Ukraine on Saturday, the Ukrainian military announced that rockets had also come from the north. That’s Belarus. The missiles – possibly ballistic – could therefore not be located and destroyed. The air alarm had also started with a delay in the capital Kyiv because of the late location.

Minsk emphasizes practice character

Belarus, however, emphasized the exercise character of the maneuver. It is about a variety of issues, including the organization of aerial reconnaissance, joint air patrols at the national borders or support for troops from the air.

Last year, a Russian troop deployment in Belarus, which was also declared as a maneuver, seamlessly merged into the war of aggression against Ukraine.