Russians take military equipment and soldiers to Belarusian border with Ukraine

A monitoring group reported that Russia began transferring military equipment and mobilised Russian occupiers to the South of Belarus, i.e. to the border with Ukraine.

Source: Belaruski Hajun [an independent Belarusian military monitoring media outlet] on Telegram

Details: Reportedly, tanks, trucks and personnel of the Armed Forces of Russia were being transported from the Belarusian polygons in the northern and central parts of Belarus, where they had been deployed to the south of Belarus, closer to the border with Ukraine.

Belsat, a Belarusian outlet posted a video showing one of the echelons spotted near the town of Dragichin on its way towards the settlement of Ivanovo. 

It includes six covered wagon cars, two wagon cars for people, fuel tanks and petrol carriers. 

Observers say that such number of vehicles is absolutely not enough to start any offensive actions.

On 20 December, an echelon of Russian military vehicles departed from Polonka railway station; the vehicles were previously stationed at Obuz-Lesnovsky firing range (Baranovichi district, Brest Oblast). The platforms carried 23 T-80 main battle tanks, eight petrol carriers, nine Urals and Kamaz vans, as well as two passenger cars and seven freight cars.

Reports also say that on 19 December, the military loaded more than 20 tanks and about 16 Urals vans on platforms at Zaslonovo railway station (Vitebsk Oblast); previously, the vehicles stayed at Lepelskyi firing range.

This particular echelon is supposed to reach Slutsk (Minsk Oblast), which is much closer to the border with Ukraine.

Another echelon moved past the settlement of Shklov (Mogilev Oblast); it included 20 BMP-2, three fuelcarriers, seven Urals, a mobile communication control room, four passenger cars of Russian Railways and three freight cars. 

This echelon arrived in Kalinkovichi (Gomel Oblast), but it can move even further to the south.

Belaruski Hajun surmises that the vehicles could be delivered to joint drills of the Russian and Belarusian armies not far from the Ukrainian border. 

Background:

• On 19 December, Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, and Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, met in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
• Putin claims that he and Lukashenko discussed joint manufacture of new military equipment, further military training and training Belarusian military pilots.
• Lukashenko bragged that a S-400 anti-aircraft complex and an Iskander missile complex were put on combat duty in Belarus.
• The Ukrainian authorities believe that on 19 December in Minsk, Vladimir Putin, the Russian dictator, tried to force Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator of Belarus, to send Belarusian troops to the war against Ukraine. 

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