Russia’s potential offensive from Belarus: National Guard names required troop numbers
Photo: Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Oleksandr Pivnenko (t.me/Pivnenko_NGU)
Despite increased Russian activity near the northern border, Ukraine believes that for a large-scale offensive from Belarus, the Kremlin would need to find significantly more resources, according to an interview with Major General Oleksandr Pivnenko, commander of the National Guard of Ukraine, with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, the main goal of the enemy’s potential actions in the north may be an attempt to stretch Ukrainian forces and create conditions for advancing deeper into the country.
"The main task of the enemy is to stretch our forces in order to move more quickly deeper into the territory. But this also requires manpower — finding 70,000 servicemen who can operate — well, let them try. And we will try to make sure they don’t find them," Pivnenko said.
The National Guard commander also noted that Russia’s special purpose center Senezh is already operating near the Ukrainian border in the Chernihiv direction.
"I’m not sure they will be able to organize that quickly, given that Russia is facing certain problems in the Pokrovsk direction — we are destroying a lot of their infantry there," the Major General emphasized.
Pivnenko added that National Guard units, together with other components of the Defense Forces, continue to carry out tasks in border areas. Special attention is being paid to drones and around-the-clock monitoring of the situation.
"I’ll put it this way: if there is concern that the enemy is planning to move in the north of our country — the Chernihiv or Chornobyl directions — we are ready for it. 2022 will not be repeated here," he stressed.
The issue of possible Belarusian involvement in the war has again come into focus amid new statements from both Ukrainian and Belarusian sides.
Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, said that Ukrainian forces have already identified hundreds of potential targets on Belarusian territory, while Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko threatened a strike on a "very serious" target in Ukraine.
Despite this, analysts from ISW currently see no signs of preparations for a new ground offensive from Belarusian territory.
