Russia, Belarus extend joint drills near Ukraine border

Bloomberg

Russia and Belarus will extend their biggest joint military drills in years, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said, as frictions spike with the West over Russia’s military buildup near the Ukraine border.
Russia had said it would return its troops to their bases afterward. While those drills are in Belarus, which is north of Ukraine, the defense ministry statement cited the deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine for the extension. It also referred to increased military activity along the borders of Russia and Belarus, a likely reference to Nato’s recent deployment of more troops eastward.
Russia’s state-run Tass news service also reported the extension. The statement from Belarus did not say how much longer the drills might run.
It comes as the US and some of its allies say they believe Russian President Vladimir Putin has now decided to invade Ukraine and that an attack could come soon. Moscow has repeatedly denied it plans to do so, and has dismissed the US claims as propaganda and “hysteria.”
Fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces in the breakaway eastern Donbas region has escalated in recent days.
There have been tit-for-tat allegations of violations of a shaky ceasefire in place
since 2015.
Ukraine says separatist leaders are increasing the rate of fire, including on civilian targets, to force a response and create a rationale for an invasion by Russia.
Donbas leaders say they’re responding to fire from the Ukrainian side.
About 30,000 Russian troops may be in Belarus, making it the largest military buildup there since the Cold War,
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said before the start of the drills. The US estimates Russia has massed as many as 190,000 personnel — including troops, National Guard units and Russian-backed separatists — in and around Ukraine.
The crisis has drawn the allies in Minsk and Moscow closer together. Putin and
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko presided over drills of Russia’s strategic
nuclear forces from the Kremlin’s situation room, which included tests of ballistic and cruise missiles.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with Putin in an attempt to find a political solution to the crisis, which threatens to became the biggest conflict for Europe since World War II.
US President Joe Biden briefed allies with details of Russia’s potential invasion plan, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC.
“You’re looking at not just an invasion through the east, through the Donbas, but according to the intelligence that we’re seeing, coming down from the north, down from Belarus, and actually encircling Kyiv itself, as Joe Biden explained to a lot of us,” Johnson said.