Ukraine def min: Russia attack from Belarus unlikely

(4 Feb 2022) Ukraine's Defense Minister told reporters on Friday that Kyiv does not believe Russia is capable of mounting an invasion of Ukraine from the territory of Belarus, where large-scale military drills are underway. Oleksii Reznikov delivered the statement in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone where Ukrainian forces and Interior Ministry personnel held combat and rescue exercises.   According to the minister, no signs of Russian troops forming a strike group to cross the Ukrainian border have been detected and the number of soldiers taking part in joint drills with Belarus alone do not constitute a sizeable enough force. As tensions simmer between Moscow and the West over Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have launched large scale military drills mobilizing thousands of personnel and military equipment. At the same time, the Ukrainian defense and interior ministries held drills to improve interdepartmental coordination during combat in difficult and semi-urban terrain. Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine's northern and eastern borders, raising concern that Moscow might invade again, as it did in 2014. The troop presence and uncertainty have unnerved Ukrainians and hurt the country's economy. The Kremlin has denied that an invasion is planned and has demanded guarantees from the West that the deployment of NATO weapons near Russian borders will be halted, that Ukraine will never join the bloc and that the alliance's forces will be rolled back from Eastern Europe. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   #Ukraine #Russia #Belarus You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...