Belarus: Putin-Lukashenko meeting amid missiles hitting Ukraine
Russian tanks during military exercises held in Belarus, December 19, 2022. © AP / Russian Defense Ministry Press Service
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
kyiv and ten regions of Ukraine are experiencing new power cuts, after a new wave of drone attacks launched by Russia against energy infrastructure.
These attacks occurred a few hours before Vladimir Putin's trip to Minsk.
The Russian president has an appointment with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
And one question is on everyone's mind: does the Russian president intend to force his counterpart to participate directly in the war against Ukraine?
Advertising
Read more
The scenario of Belarusian participation in the fighting in Ukraine is feared by the authorities in kyiv.
They are in any case convinced that a new offensive on the Ukrainian capital will be launched from Belarusian territory in a few weeks or months.
Tactical exercises
The scenario has already happened, in February 2022, but the Belarusian troops had not then taken part in the assault on the Ukrainian capital.
These concerns are reinforced by the announcement of tactical exercises by the Russian army in Belarus.
Alexander Lukashenko has repeated that he does not plan to send military units to Ukraine, but statements from his defense ministry that it has completed a series of inspections of the armed forces add to the confusion.
The latter broadcast images of maneuvers on which we see soldiers with tanks and practicing artillery fire in a snow-covered landscape.
“
From dawn to dusk, there is not a single second of silence on the training grounds of Belarus
“, still boasted the ministry in a press release.
Psychological component
After four visits by the Belarusian leader to Moscow, Sochi and Saint Petersburg, Vladimir Putin is going to Minsk for the first time in three and a half years.
As several observers note, he does not need to move to force the hand of his counterpart, who is very dependent on Moscow.
But this visit has, in any case, a psychological component.
It increases the pressure on kyiv.
In a recorded speech, Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country was preparing "
for all possible defense scenarios
": "
The protection of our border, both with Russia and with Belarus, says the Ukrainian president, is our permanent priority
".
►Also read
: Belarus: the country is preparing for the official visit of Vladimir Putin
Iranian missiles hit kyiv
At the end of the night, this Monday, December 19, the characteristic noise of the
Shahed-136
, these Iranian kamikaze drones which make a backfiring noise of a moped, spread in the sky of the capital, causing massive fire from the anti -terrorism defense.
air, heard in several places in the capital.
A first alert went off shortly before 2 a.m., a second around 5:30 a.m., it seems that the Russian military
decided to harass the electrical infrastructure and, although several drones were shot down, explosions occurred in the relatively central districts of Solomianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi.
The authorities are cautious about the targets hit, but several photos on social networks again show pylons and high-voltage lines…
This is yet another blow to Ukraine's energy network, which according to several official sources has been damaged by 45%
in the past two months.
Emergency cuts were again introduced on Monday morning, the concern now being that we are approaching a threshold where repairs will no longer take days but weeks, says our correspondent in Ukraine,
Stéphane Siohan
.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Russia
Belarus
Ukraine
Alexander Lukashenko
Vladimir Poutine
Volodymyr Zelensky
Defense
Diplomacy
