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Another nation may be preparing to join the war between Russia and Ukraine which would make it a two versus one fight.
Officials from Ukraine warned on Sunday that the military from Belarus was preparing to invade, Fox News reported.
In a statement shared to Facebook, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said there were signs that suggested the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus were preparing for a “direct invasion” of Ukrainian territory.
Belarus borders Ukraine to the north and was reportedly used as a staging area for Russian forces.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense issued a stern warning for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“The direct involvement of Belarusian troops in the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine, contrary to the will of the military and the vast majority of the Belarusian people, will become a fatal mistake of Alexander Lukashenko,” the statement said of Putin’s close ally.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine assessed that the threat level was high for “an offensive from the Republic of Belarus in the Volyn direction,” according to Ukrainian online newspaper Pravda.
The news comes after Lukashenko blamed the conflict in Ukraine on the “monopolization of our planet by the United States of America.”
He also took the time to lavish praise on Putin.
“He and I haven’t only met as heads of state, we’re on friendly terms,” he said. “I’m absolutely privy to all his details, as far as possible, both state and personal.”
“Putin is absolutely fit, he’s in better shape than ever,” he said. “This is a completely sane, healthy person, physically healthy – he’s an athlete. As they say here – he’ll catch a cold at all our funerals.”
He lamented the fall of the Soviet Union and blamed the United States for the issues in the world.
“While the USSR existed, the world was multipolar and one pole balanced the other,” he said. “Now the reason for what’s happening in the world is unipolarity – the monopolization of our planet by the United States of America.”
It also comes after the government of President Vladimir Putin entered into a war of words with Joe Biden on Friday, issuing a blistering response to the U.S. president’s earlier statements about his Russian counterpart.
In remarks to reporters, Biden called Putin a “war criminal” and a “murderous dictator” for the reported actions of some of his troops operating in Ukraine after invading late last month. Russian forces have reportedly struck several civilian targets in Ukrainian cities, killing women and children.
“We hear and see statements that are actually personal insults to President Putin,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
“Given such irritability from Mr. Biden, his fatigue and sometimes forgetfulness…fatigue that leads to aggressive statements, we will not make harsh assessments, so as not to cause more aggression.”
“We consider unacceptable and unforgivable such rhetoric of the head of state, whose bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world,” Peskov added.
On Thursday, Putin gave a speech to the Russian people that blasted the West in general and sounded “Stalinesque” to some observers, as Fox News reported:
Vladimir Putin is adjusting his rhetoric following his stalled invasion of Ukraine, touching on Stalinist nostalgia and patriotic themes to boost public support for the war, which he calls a “special military operation” and claims was launched as a defensive measure.
In a speech Thursday, he peppered his remarks with “Stalin-esque” dog whistling and warnings of a “fifth column” of Russian “scum and traitors” working to undermine his ambitions from within, according to a translation of his remarks.
“The West, collectively, is trying to fracture our society … to provoke a civil conflict in Russia by means of the fifth column,” he said. “The goal is Russia’s collapse.”
