Military hospitals, repairing institutions. but perhaps putin wants to encourage lukashenko forjoining their army, the russian troops in ukraine. it seems that they are preparing a new attack on kyiv territory closer to march, march april. and it s very likely there will be some mixed battalions that consist of belarusian and russian soldiers. these pictures are reported to be from inside belarus. earlier, the defence ministry in moscow announced that russian troops there were starting joint drills. also belarus says they d successfully checked the combat readiness of their troops. meanwhile in ukraine, russia has launched several drone stikes hitting key infrastructure in and around kyiv. the ukrainian air force says they shot down 30 drones. these attacks are targetting ukraine s power grid, causing sweeping blackouts.
For talks with his ally, alexander lu kashenko. there s speculation that he may try to attack kyiv from belarus, like he did ten months ago. when putin arrived in minsk he was greated on the runway by alexander lu kashenko. a spokesman for putin called suggestions that pressure was being put on belarus tojoin the war stupid and groundless speculation. and here s what lukashenko had to say. russia and belarus as vladimir and i always say is open for dialogue, including european states. i hope that they will listen to the voice of reason and we will move to discuss matters of common security and the future world order. a different perspective comes from the chief adviser to the belarus opposition s leader in exile sviatlana tsi khan ouskaya. the advisor told the bbc, that putin wants belarus more involved in the war. putin will try to encourage lukashenko for more participation in the war. right now, russian army is using belarusian military infrastructure, airfields,
And we are enjoying talking to you. j and we are enjoying talking to you. it is not an easy way to work, stay here and report. we do send you our best wishes. thank you. what about belarus? staging post for many of the russian troops that are now heading into ukraine. and earlier tuesday ukraine said it had evidence that belarusian troops had joined the fight in the north of the country. there have been conflicting reports about that. belarus rejected those claims, and the pentagon says as yet there is no indication the belarusian troops are in ukraine. but what is certainly true is that belarus is openly assisting the russian effort. this is president lukashenko addressing members of his security council today about the situation in ukraine in which he confirms that russian rockets were fired at ukraine from inside belarus. and within hours of that footage being circulated the uk imposed they have played