(Kyiv) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered on Friday to strengthen security on the border with Belarus in the face of the arrival in this country allied with Moscow of fighters from the paramilitary group Wagner after an abortive rebellion in Russia.
“By decision of the general staff, the commander-in-chief [Valery] Zalouzhny and the General [Serguiï] Nayev were ordered to strengthen the northern leadership in order to secure peace,” Zelensky said in a video posted on Telegram.
He said he was briefed on the situation in Belarus on Friday by Ukrainian and foreign intelligence services, as well as border guards.
In a previous message, Mr. Zelensky mentioned “measures to strengthen this area”, without detailing them.
After his aborted revolt in Russia a week ago, the boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner agreed to go into exile in Belarus thanks to mediation led by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Moscow.
Under the terms of this agreement, Wagner fighters have the choice of going to Belarus, enlisting in the regular Russian army or returning to civilian life. The Russian Ministry of Defense must recover their heavy weapons.
Mr. Lukashenko estimated that the Belarusian army could benefit from the “experience” of Wagner’s commanders, although he also minimized the activities that the group will be authorized to carry out in the country.
Ukraine has repeatedly said it fears an attack from Belarus, which is home to Russian troops but whose own soldiers are not directly involved in the invasion launched by Moscow.
Ukrainian army chief wants more weapons
The Ukrainian army is limited in its counter-offensive by a lack of armament, in particular combat planes, estimates its commander-in-chief Valery Zalouzhny in an interview published Friday by the washington post.
“It annoys me,” he says of Westerners who complain about Kyiv’s slow progress against the Russians, when he wishes they would deliver weapons to them more quickly.
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENCY PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny
To compete with Russian air power, Ukraine needs the promised F-16 fighter jets as soon as possible, insists the general-in-chief.
“We don’t need 120 planes. I’m not going to threaten the entire planet. A small number will be enough, ”he said again in the columns of the American daily. “But they are necessary, there is no other solution”.
He also complains of a lack of artillery in the face of the deluge of Russian fire.
If Valery Zaloujny says he is in permanent contact with his Western partners, like the American Chief of Staff Mark Milley, it is not they who make the decisions, he regrets.
“While decisions are being made, it is obvious that many people are dying, every day, and in large numbers. Simply because the decisions are not made right away”, he still declares to the washington post.
“We are giving them all the help we can,” Mark Milley told reporters on Friday. Delivering F-16s or ATACMS tactical missiles to them is “on the table, but no decision has been made yet,” he added.
The counter-offensive “is going slower than we predicted”, he said, but “war is like that”. “It doesn’t surprise me at all. »
The Ukrainian army is nevertheless making “continuous advances”, “500, 1000, 2000 meters per day, that sort of thing”, noted the American chief of staff.