Enemy amasses about 17,000 troops in Belarus, two Russian regions bordering Ukraine

Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev, Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"For the operations in the northern direction, the enemy involves two groups covering the state border, which are deployed in the southern part of Belarus and in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions, with a total number of about 17,000 people. In addition, the Russian contingent of the regional grouping of troops, with a total number of about 2,800 people, is remaining at the training grounds of Belarus. Planes and helicopters of the air and space branches of the Russian Armed Forces are stationing at Belarusian military airfields," said Nayev.

He emphasized that the situation in this area is controlled by the Defense Forces of Ukraine, but the enemy continues to systematically shell the border areas of Sumy and Chernihiv regions with artillery, conduct aerial reconnaissance with the aim of inflicting fire damage on critical civilian infrastructure facilities and exposing Ukrainian air defense systems.

 Nayev also noted that the Ukrainian command continues to strengthen the Northern Group of Forces, prepare reserves, monitor the situation, rearm the troops with more modern foreign types of weapons, improve fortifications and enhance mine clearance operations in border areas.

As reported by Ukrinform, the day before Nayev made a working trip to the border districts of Sumy region to check the conditions of military service and the performance of combat missions, as well as strengthening the protection of critical civil infrastructure facilities.

Photo: Ukrainian Defense Ministry