Belarusian president commits troops to aid Russia as Vladimir Putin renews attacks on Ukrainian cities

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Monday that his nation will commit troops to aid in Russian President Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Reuters reported that Lukashenko, a staunch ally of Putin and a fellow autocrat, accused the Ukrainian government and its Western allies of plotting to attack Belarus.

"Strikes on the territory of Belarus are not just being discussed in Ukraine today, but are also being planned. Their owners are pushing them to start a war against Belarus to drag us there," he said without presenting any evidence. "We have been preparing for this for decades. If necessary, we will respond."

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Lukashenko's proclamation follows new Russian attacks on civilian targets in multiple Ukrainian cities in response to the destruction of the Kersch Bridge connecting Russian-annexed Crimea to Russia over the weekend. Putin called the bombing a "terrorist act," despite his floundering forces' genocidal actions in his "special military operation." Ukraine, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has waged remarkably successful counteroffensives in its eastern territories after Putin conducted sham referenda in an attempt to incorporate the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.

While there has been no indication that Ukraine or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization coalition providing materiel support intend to wage war against Belarus, Lukashenko nonetheless stated that "my answer was simple: 'Tell the president of Ukraine and the other lunatics: if they touch one meter of our territory then the Crimean Bridge will seem to them like a walk in the park'."

Reuters noted that "Belarus's army has about 60,000 people."

Meanwhile, tensions between Moscow and the United States have deteriorated further in recent days as Russia continues to face setbacks on the battlefield. Putin has reaffirmed his threat to use nuclear weapons, prompting President Joe Biden to concede that "Armageddon" is an outcome of an atomic conflict that cannot be dismissed.

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