Feint Or Combat Readiness? Belarus Putting Up Wooden Dummy Tanks On The Border

Amid fears that Russia could drag Belarus into a war, Ukraine has reported that the latter was putting up dummy tanks made of wood in areas near its border with the war-torn nation.

According to Oleksandr Motuzianyk, spokesman for the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, this was done to demonstrate their presence. "In order to carry out operational camouflage measures and demonstrate their presence, units of the Belarusian Armed Forces are deploying wooden dummy tanks in the areas bordering Ukraine," Motuzianyk said in his Facebook post.

He added that the Belarusian Armed Forces are in the process of testing their combat readiness, and the exercises will stretch until this weekend, "In addition, there is a threat of missile and air strikes on Ukraine from the territory of Belarus," he added.

Motuzianyk added that up to seven Belarusian battalions continue to carry out tasks to strengthen the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in Brest and Gomel oblasts.

However, despite these developments, Ukraine has said that it sees no signs of preparations for the second offensive from the territory of Belarus. That said, potentially such a threat persists, so the Ukrainian army keeps troops there.

"The threat from Belarus has never diminished. But in order to re-develop the offensive from the territory of this country, it is necessary to create a powerful offensive group. We have already seen this in the first weeks of the full-scale Russian invasion. It was because of the unfriendly actions of the Republic of Belarus that Russia reached the outskirts of Kyiv so quickly. But then a very powerful group was created. Now we do not see such a group," Motuzianyk was quoted by Ukrinform.

Ukraine believes that Russia would carry out a tactic where the main focus would be on Luhansk and Donetsk. "The rest are constant shelling, the distraction of our attention, restraint of actions of our units. In this way, they force us to keep troops there. We are well aware that as soon as we take the units away, they [the invaders] can carry out a second offensive. We do not see this in the near future, but we are forced to strengthen this direction," Motuzianyk stressed.

However, defense analysts believe Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko may have very few options if Russia's Vladimir Putin decides that the only pathway to success in the Ukraine war is through Belarus.