![]() ![]() "In Ireland, we probably need to redefine what defence is," said Byrne during a trip to Paris. Ireland must question its long-standing policy of military neutrality following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne said on Friday. Ukrainian troops have reinforced their presence on the Belarusian border in response. Its armed forces total just 48,000 personnel, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and have not fought a war in more than 30 years of independence since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is unclear whether Belarusian forces could make a difference, however. This was seen as a potential sign that he may commit his army in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin's flailing aggression against Ukraine.īelarus allowed itself to be used as a launchpad for Russia's 24 February full-scale invasion of Ukraine but has not joined the fighting directly.Īnalysts say Lukashenko would have no choice but to comply if Putin demanded he enters the war at a moment when the Kremlin is reeling from a series of defeats and facing unprecedented public criticism of its generals' failings. Lukashenko has claimed that the West and Ukraine are "threatening" Belarus' territory and has appealed to Moscow for help. The first Russian soldiers assigned to the so-called "regional grouping" arrived in Belarus on Saturday, according to Minsk's ministry of defence.Įarlier this week, Belarusian strongman President Alexander Lukashenko announced that his troops would deploy together with Russian forces near the Ukrainian border. First Russian soldiers join Belarus' 'regional grouping' as Lukashenko mulls joining war Ukraine war: 'Kamikaze drones' fired towards Kyiv, Mykolaiv flats hit, grain deal threatĤ.Boy rescued from rubble after Mykolaiv shelling.The Defence Ministry said the two assailants from an unnamed nation in the Commonwealth of the Independent States, which groups nine ex-Soviet republics, were killed by return fire. Two men gunned down a group of Russian soldiers on a military firing range in Belgorod on Saturday, killing 11 and wounding 15, Moscow authorities said. At least 15 dead, 11 wounded after two men open fire at Russian military range Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, said that two residents of Nikopol had been hospitalised following the strikes, which also damaged five power lines, gas pipelines, and a raft of civilian businesses and residential buildings. Separately, Ukrainian authorities on Sunday reported that at least six people were wounded as a result of rocket attacks across from Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, where Russia has stationed its troops. Kremlin-backed separatist authorities have previously accused Ukraine of numerous strikes on infrastructure and residential targets in the occupied regions, often employing the US-supplied long-range HIMARS rockets without providing corroborating information. ![]()
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