24 October 2022, Monday, 10:11 424

Budanov assesses probability of new attack on Kyiv from Belarus

Редактор: Roman Vaniyan

Russia is unlikely to open a second front from Belarus due to its low combat potential, but the theoretical possibility of such an attack still remains.

Head of the State Government Kyrylo Budanov told this in an interview for the Ukrainian Pravda online media.

"As of now there is no such thing (a risk of a repeated attack - ed.). Is it possible to do this theoretically? It is possible. It will take about 2 or 2.5 weeks of redeployment of troops. This is not possible," Budanov said.

He added that, despite rumors about the preparation of a new attack on Kyiv, in reality, this attack will not happen in the near future for several reasons:

the Russians transfer a certain number of units there, but there are no signs of the formation of strike groups. As of now, about 3,200 people have been sent to Belarus;
Belarus sends all its equipment from long-term storage bases to Russia;
in fact, Belarus has nothing to fight against Ukraine.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, Russian servicemen continue to arrive in Belarus.

On October 10, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Oleksandr Lukashenko, said that he was aware of alleged preparations for an attack on Belarus by Ukraine.

On October 10, the Minister of Defense of Belarus, Viktor Khrenin, said that Belarus is not going to war with Ukrainians and other peoples, unless there are provocations and "wrong actions."

At the same time, on October 20, a deputy head of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksii Hromov, said that the Russian occupying forces may launch a second offensive from the territory of Belarus, but their main goal will not be Kyiv.