Belarus announces surprise military drills

Moscow, May 4 (EFE).- Belarus on Wednesday announced the start of large-scale military drills to assess the preparation of troops to “quickly respond to a possible crisis.”

“Military units and subunits will operate in unfamiliar areas of the terrain in a rapidly changing situation,” said a statement from the Belarusian defense ministry, which did not specify the duration of the exercises or the number of troops participating in them.

The composition of the forces involved “be gradually increased, which will make it possible to test their ability to counter military threats both on the ground and in the air,” it added.

“The ongoing activities are one of the most effective forms of troop training and do not pose any threat either to the European community as a whole or to neighboring countries in particular,” the statement stressed.

Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy has accused Belarus of being an accomplice to Russia in its war that began with an invasion on Feb. 24.

The Russian army used ally Belarus, bordering Ukraine, for its military incursion at the beginning of its campaign and later to retreat to when it left the northern Ukrainian regions of Kyiv and Chernihiv. EFE

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