Fears Putin’s possible war moves – could change everything

Russia warns that “a sad fate” awaits Ukraine.

At the same time, Ukrainian leaders are preparing for Putin’s possible move – which could change the balance of the war:

A new front in the north and a huge addition of new soldiers.

Putin happily posed for pictures with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Monday.

They met in St. Petersburg to “agree on the forms for the next three years’ integration of the countries,” the Kremlin said.

Dreading the next move

Belarus’ continued progress towards a Russian vassal state has top Ukrainian military officials fearing Putin’s next possible move.

Lukashenko made the country’s territory available to Russian troops before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian army has also evacuated wounded soldiers via Belarus and used the country’s airfields and bases.

Putin has also moved Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

But the country has so far stayed out of direct involvement in Russia’s war.

Risk of front in the north

Now Ukraine does not dare to rule out that it may be forced to deal with a new front in the north – and an addition of upwards of 100,000 new soldiers fighting on the Russian side. Such a development would change the entire war.

– I mean that Russia can repeat the offensive in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions from the Belarusian border. There is a risk that Belarus will join the war, Bohdan Krotevych, acting commander of the National Guard Azov Brigade, told the Ukrainian website Politika Strani.

The brigade has previously been accused of being close to far-right groups, but is considered by many experts to have evolved and played a major role during the war.

The newspaper Politika Strani writes in an analysis of the commander’s information that Belarusian participation in the war would be “significantly more dangerous now than during the beginning of the invasion”. states Newsweek.

“A serious problem”

It is believed that Russia has a numerical advantage at the front and has already forced Ukraine to call in more reservists to even the odds.

If Putin and Lukashenko agree that Belarus should participate in the fighting, this could mean that around 100,000 additional soldiers will pour into Ukraine and create “a serious problem for the Ukrainian military given the current balance at the front”, writes Politika Strani in its analysis .

However, Belarusian independent journalist and expert Hanna Liubakova tells Newsweek that she sees no evidence that Putin is currently requesting or demanding help from Belarus that includes troop presence in the war.

– If the war in Ukraine escalates and if the Kremlin worries about possible losses due to lack of resources, Putin can order full mobilization, she says to Newsweek.

“A sad fate”

At the same time, Russia continues to signal that it does not intend to back down in the war and is not interested in negotiations that would mean leaving occupied Ukrainian land.

Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Russian foreign intelligence service (SVR), says in a television interview that they will not settle for less than “a complete erasure of the Ukrainian state”, writes the think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The Ukrainian government is facing “a very sad fate,” says the intelligence chief.

“Russia will not stop halfway”.