Ukrainian officials said Saturday that Russia fired missiles from Belarus to drag the country “into the war in Ukraine as a direct participant.”
Ukraine said Saturday that Russia fired missiles from Belarus “for the purpose of further dragging Belarus into the war against Ukraine.”
In a statement posted to Facebook, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said that “a massive missile and bomb attack” was launched across the country, and that “Russian bombers ‘worked’ directly from the territory of Belarus.”
The Ministry of Defense said that six aircraft launched 12 missiles, and that the “blow was carried out in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.”
“This is the first case of an air strike across Ukraine directly from the territory of Belarus. Today’s shelling is directly related to the efforts of the Kremlin authorities to drag Belarus into the war in Ukraine as a direct participant”, the ministry stated. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that 48 cruise missiles were fired in total on Ukraine last night.
