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Lukashenko says he knows the Ukrainian military ‘does not want any war with Belarus’
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Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has said his country has a “major” target in Ukraine in its sights.
Amid concerns about Minsk becoming more involved in the war, Ukraine’s commander of Unmanned Systems Forces had warned last week that his forces have identified 500 potential targets in Belarus.
“They may have identified 500 targets. But we have one major target, with precise coordinates, and it is very close to Belarus. They understand that too,” Lukashenko said yesterday.
Russia’s ally also claimed that Ukraine does not seek any conflict with Belarus.
“The Ukrainian military does not want any war with Belarus. I know that for sure,” he said.
“Because they understand that this means a thousand kilometres of additional front lines, a border – and a difficult border – between Belarus and Ukraine. Do they need that? No,” Lukashenko said.
A Russian-appointed official said a Ukrainian drone struck an apartment building in a Russian-held part of southern Kherson region, killing a child and injuring 11 people.
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of the parts of Kherson region in eastern Ukraine under Moscow’s control, wrote on Telegram that the strike occurred in the city of Henichesk, on the shore of the Sea of Azov.
The French Navy on Sunday boarded an oil tanker, named the Tagor, which was subject to international sanctions and sailing from Russia, French president Emmanuel Macron said on X.
“This operation took place in the Atlantic Ocean, on the high seas, with the support of several partners, including the United Kingdom, in strict compliance with the law of the sea,” he said.
“It is unacceptable for ships to circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea, and finance the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years,” he added.
The Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic said in a separate statement on Monday that the French Navy had intervened on an oil tanker more than 400 nautical miles (740km) west of the tip of Brittany, coming from Murmansk, Russia.
“This operation was aimed at checking the nationality of a vessel suspected of flying a false flag. After the inspection team boarded the vessel, an examination of the documents confirmed suspicions regarding the irregularity of the flag flown. In accordance with international law and at the request of the public prosecutor, the vessel was diverted,” it added. The prefecture did not name the ship.
France and Britain have both vowed to obstruct ships linked to Russia’s sanctioned “shadow fleet” that pass through their waters.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his Romanian counterpart Nicusor Dan for confirming that the drone attack on Romania was carried out using a Russian aerial weapon.
“Thank you for your clarity, dear @NicusorDanRO. Facts are the best cure to Putin’s lies and they prove that Russia’s manipulations will not pass. Ukraine is ready to work closely together to counter common threats and strengthen the protection of life — not only for our country, but also for the friendly Romania and the rest of Europe,” Zelensky said on X, in response to Dan’s findings shared on social media.
The Romanian leader said that the drone that crashed on Saturday night in “Galați is a Geran-2, of Russian origin”.
“This is the unequivocal conclusion of the technical report finalised by Romanian state specialists. The investigation established this based on a substantial body of technical evidence,” he said on X.
“On the recovered fragments, the inscription in Cyrillic characters “ГЕРАН-2” was identified, and the electronic components, navigation systems, control modules, engine, and structural elements analysed show similarities up to and including identity with those of other Geran-2 drones recovered previously on Romanian territory and definitively identified as manufactured in the Russian Federation,” the Romanian president said.
He said that Russia was solely responsible for the attack on a residential building in Romania, which caused injuries and material damage.
Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of abducting Ukrainian children and training them to fight against their own country.
In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation yesterday, the Ukrainian president claimed that children taken to Russia were being taught to hate their native country.
“They taught these children to hate their native country, to hate native people. And Ukrainians, can you imagine, such young Ukrainians, young boys, come to the battlefield and kill Ukrainians,” he said.
Thousands of children are estimated to have been forcibly taken to Russia.
Kyiv has denied that a Ukrainian drone struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest nuclear facility in Europe.
Russia’s state nuclear energy company, Rosatom, said on Saturday that the drone exploded after tearing a hole in the wall of a turbine hall.
Rosatom’s CEO Alexei Likhachev accused Ukraine of a deliberate attack.
“This afternoon, a Ukrainian kamikaze combat drone struck the turbine hall building of Power Unit No. 6, resulting in a detonation,” Likhachev said. He added there was no damage to main equipment.
Ukraine’s military said it did not target or strike the plant, describing the Russian claim as “yet another propaganda ploy.”
A military statement said that it adheres to international humanitarian law and is aware of the “consequences of any actions targeting nuclear facilities.”
Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed “serious concern” in a post on X following the incident.
The IAEA said in a statement that its inspectors at the plant “observed damage to the exterior of a turbine building” that was “consistent with the impact” of a drone.
It gave no details of where the drone may have come from, but said radiation levels at the site remained normal.
It added that its inspectors had requested access to the inside of the turbine hall for further examination.
Ukraine received a new Iris-T air defence launcher from Germany on Saturday, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“We thank Germany for its constant contribution to protecting people; thousands upon thousands of lives have been saved thanks to such strong support,” Zelensky said on X.
“We also need missiles for air defence systems to have sufficient capabilities to repel Russian attacks,” Zelensky said on Telegram.
Ukraine heavily relies on the Iris-T for its layered air defence system, which comprises of multiple different systems it sources from its allies.
The portable launchers can carry eight missiles each.
The German defence launcher is a short-range system capable of hitting targets at a distance of 12km (8 miles) and up to an altitude of 8km. It also has a medium-range system that can reach targets up to 40km (24 miles) and at an altitude of 20km (13 miles).
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has said his country has a “major” target in Ukraine in its sights.
Amid concerns about Minsk becoming more involved in the war, Ukraine’s commander of Unmanned Systems Forces had warned last week that his forces have identified 500 potential targets in Belarus.
“They may have identified 500 targets. But we have one major target, with precise coordinates, and it is very close to Belarus. They understand that too,” Lukashenko said yesterday.
Russia’s ally also claimed that Ukraine does not seek any conflict with Belarus.
“The Ukrainian military does not want any war with Belarus. I know that for sure,” he said.
“Because they understand that this means a thousand kilometres of additional front lines, a border – and a difficult border – between Belarus and Ukraine. Do they need that? No,” Lukashenko said.
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