Putin Plotting Attack From Belarus, Ukraine Claims

Russian President Vladimir Putin is badgering Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko to take a more active role in his war against Ukraine.

Photo Insert: Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who wears a general’s uniform but never served in the Russian military, claimed to have “visited” troops in occupied Ukraine.

The planned meeting between the two dictators in Minsk on Dec. 19 is aimed to intensify aggression against Kyiv and deploy Belarusian troops on Ukrainian territory, Lt. Gen. Serhiy Naiev said.

On Dec. 16, Russia brought at least 50 Ural military trucks to Belarus, the watchdog Belarusian Hajun reported.

On the war front, Ukraine’s General Staff claimed that Russia has lost 98,280 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. In a report dated Dec. 18, the General Staff said Russia had lost 2,987 tanks, 5,963 armored fighting vehicles, 4,579 vehicles, and fuel tanks, 1,948 artillery systems, 410 multiple launch rocket systems, 211 air defense systems, 281 airplanes, 264 helicopters, 1,649 drones, and 16 boats, Ukraine Daily reported.

Ukraine expects the delivery of Patriot missiles from the US, Leopard 2 tanks from a number of countries, MiG 31 jets from neighboring nations and advanced anti-aircraft batteries from Germany aside from 29 upgraded M-55S tanks refitted with NATO main guns and machineguns, a number of helicopters from the United Kingdom and millions of artillery rounds from the US, UK, and Central European nations.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has urged the European Union (EU) to deliver more weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine as Putin threatens to involve Belarus directly into his bloody war of aggression against Kyiv.

Metsola said EU needs to strengthen its financial and military support for Ukraine because “Ukraine must win this war.” In quick response, Latvia allocated more than 500,000 euros to support Ukrainian state media. The Latvian government has agreed to allocate nearly 560,000 euros ($593,292) to purchase generators for Ukrainian state media, Delfi reported.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who wears a general’s uniform but never served in the Russian military, claimed to have “visited” troops in occupied Ukraine.

Attaching a short video of Shoigu in a military helicopter, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that he had spoken with troops about the current battlefield assessment “on the front line” and at a “command post.”

It was unclear when Shoigu’s visit really took place or whether he had come to Ukraine at all, with Ukraine Daily suspecting that the “visit” was in Russian territory.

Shoigu had been roundly ridiculed in the US, Ukraine, and Russia itself for claiming that Russian missiles and artillery had destroyed 44 US HIMARS rocket systems in Ukraine when only 16 had been deployed at the time he spoke.

Moreover, he insisted that more than 200 US M-777 howitzers were blasted when only 130 were stationed in Ukraine to fire extended-range artillery rounds loaded with anti-personnel sherds.

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