Ukrainian border guards commented on the statement of the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Oleksandr Lukashenko, that Belarus allegedly transferred a third of its army to the border with Ukraine.
"The situation on the border with the Republic of Belarus has not changed. We do not observe an increase in Belarusian equipment or military units near our border," Andrii Demchenko, the spokesman of the State Security Service of Ukraine, told Babel.
Today, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus Lukashenko said in an interview with the Rossiya TV channel that "Belarus was forced to transfer almost a third of its troops to the border with Ukraine," the Belarusian propaganda news agency BelTA reported.
He said that Ukraine allegedly keeps more than 120,000 of its troops near the border with Belarus.
"Seeing their [Ukraineʼs] aggressive policy, we brought our troops there and stationed them at certain points — as it would be in case of war, defense — along the entire border. Whatʼs more, special services work there, special units — "Alfa", "Almaz" and others — are the most prepared, they do their job," said Lukashenko.
According to him, Ukraine allegedly deployed its troops near the border with Belarus at the end of June and beginning of July, when preparations were being made for the parade in Minsk for the Independence Day of the Republic of Belarus. He noted that at that time, many aircraft and units of the ground forces, which took part in the parade, were moved to Belarus, in particular from Russia.
"It is clear that they [Ukrainians] saw the movement towards us, while the Americans give them all the information. And they thought that, as they said, "Putin will again advance from the territory of Belarus" — from near Gomel, as it was at the beginning of the SVO. And they began to transfer up to 120,000 servicemen. In response, I was forced to transfer almost a third of the army to strengthen what was already there," Lukashenko said.
He said that later Ukraine allegedly withdrew those additional 120,000 soldiers. However, according to him, units that were near the borders for two and a half years of full-scale war are still present both on the side of Belarus and on the side of Ukraine.
Lukashenko says that "this death is like Belarus withdrawing its troops from the border with Ukraine."