Russia-Ukraine war: Belarus restricts access to southern region bordering Ukraine, Russia

Belarus was used as a launch pad for Russian forces in an attempt to invade Ukraine’s capital Kyiv back in February. The Belarusian government has restricted its southern region that borders Ukraine and Russia.

On Wednesday, the Belarusian government issued a ruling on its website that access to the southern region of Gomel that borders Ukraine and Russia is restricted. The restriction is temporary, especially in the districts of Loevsky, Braginsky, and Khoiniki in Gomel. The announcement also comes amidst growing military activity between Russia and Belarus on Belarusian soil in recent months.

The government did not indicate how long the temporary restriction would last, but the restriction did not apply to the officials, workers, and residents of those districts.

The restriction also follows Minsk’s move to carry out anti-sabotage drills back on October 11 in the Gomel region. Russian servicemembers were deployed to Minsk four days later to join the regional grouping the two countries established.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin also visited Belarus on Monday on his first trip to the neighboring country since 2019. Putin’s visit to Minsk raised concerns in Kyiv that Moscow would pressure Belarus to stage a new invasion front against Ukraine.

On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the United States on his first overseas trip since Russia’s invasion back on February 24. Zelenskyy met with US President Joe Biden and delivered remarks to a special joint session of Congress.

The British defense ministry in its intelligence bulletin on Thursday said that despite Russia and Belarus announcing the deployment of Russian troops into Belarus, Minsk may likely be taking on a more “discreet role” in training thousands of Russian reserve troops.

“The likely use of Belarusian instructors is an attempt to partially remediate the lack of Russian military trainers, many of whom are deployed in Ukraine or have become casualties,” said the ministry, noting that even when the two neighboring countries have a history of military cooperation, Belarus training Russian reserve troops is a “role reversal.”

“Belarusian forces have traditionally been considered by Russia as inferior to Russian forces and their employment as trainers is an indication of overstretch within the Russian military system,” said the ministry.