Ukraine reports attacks from Belarusian territory

Today, Russian troops attacked Ukraine across multiple borders by land, air, and sea. The Ukrainian state border service has reported attacks using air strikes, artillery, combat vehicles, and firearms in areas bordering Russia, Belarus, and the occupied Crimea. Military operations spread to large sections of Ukraine, especially in the east and south. Dozens of people have been killed, including about 10 civilians, with many more missing.

CNN has witnessed, via a live stream video, troops atop a column of military vehicles entering Ukraine from a border crossing point in Vesialouka, Belarus. Later, Russian troops crossed the Belarus-Ukraine border through the Vilcha checkpoint, located 150 kilometers from Kyiv. According to the border service reports, border guards and the Ukrainian military took up the fight and fended off the attack. Radio Svaboda cites Belarusian medics who claim that wounded Russian soldiers are being treated in a Belarusian civil hospital in Kastsiukovichy near Homel.

In the early afternoon, Ukraine’s army commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhny reported that four ballistic missiles had been launched from Belarus in the southwest direction toward Ukraine.

In the evening, Ukrainian sources announced that Russian troops coming from Belarusian territory captured the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Any damage to the facilities may result in a radioactive disaster.

So far, no Belarusian troops appear to have taken part in the invasion. However, Lukashenko has remained vague on the exact extent of current and planned military assistance to Russia. Experts believe that the struggling autocrat is too dependent on Putin’s Russia to make truly independent decisions.

G7’s Heads of State condemned Russia’s large-scale military aggression and noted that some of it originated from Belarusian territory. Their statement emphasizes that “the unfounded and unjustified attack on the democratic Ukrainian state” represents “a serious breach of international law and a gross violation of the United Nations Charter and all of Russia’s commitments under the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris, as well as its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum”.