During a meeting with journalists on 14 June, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about the possible threat of a Russian offensive in Zhytomyr, Volyn, and Chernihiv Regions under the guise of military exercises in Belarus.
“A full-scale offensive took place from this direction and after the relevant exercises. I think Lukashenka himself is afraid that we in Ukraine will think that the presence of the continent in the exercises is a preparation for offensive actions. He understands that after our respective steps on the Kursk direction, if we feel threatened, we will be able to do something. And I think he will be an influential factor in whether it is possible to start something from the Belarusian side during the exercises,” Zelenskyy said.
According to the President, there is a distance from the place of the Russian military exercises to the Ukrainian border.
“Today we cannot say for sure what will happen. But the analysis of our intelligence, especially the Foreign Intelligence Service, suggests that they will try to go even a little deeper into Belarus, further from the border – in order not to provoke. I don’t know if this is true. I just had the latest report from the Foreign Intelligence Service a couple of days ago, and there was such a signal. But all this needs to be checked,” the President added.
The President emphasised that “the risk of Russian training has historically been known to us, unfortunately, for a long time”.