Ukrainian authorities officially recognized Belarus as accomplice of aggressor and occupant, military expert says
Russian troops have an advantage in the sky, but their losses are not comparable to what they hoped for, Viktor Yahun, former deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, told Belsat.
“The Russian aggressors gave themselves 48 hours to solve their tasks. More than 24 hours have passed, and so far they have not implemented anything concrete according to their plan. Yes, they have advanced in some areas, but they hoped that these areas would be liberated from the Ukrainian military and they would be able to redeploy troops for a forced offensive on the targets they are interested in. So far they have not succeeded. They can’t make a corridor to Transnistria — they need to take Kherson, Mykolaiv and then Odesa. Kherson is holding on. The columns are suspended near Kharkiv and Chernihiv,” the expert says about the situation on the front.
Russian troops do not march in front, but act with dagger attacks in one direction or another, trying not to capture cities, but to bypass them and thus take control.
“We have to fight a positional war and contain these dagger attacks. It’s harder in defense because we have to hold on to certain positions, and some of them are not always prepared by us. For example, Russian troops have taken over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which means they have actually committed an act of terrorism. They are now holding the personnel of the plant hostage, there can be no rotation, people cannot rest, they cannot be replaced by their colleagues. What will happen is unclear. The station was guarded by a battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine, which gave battle to the occupants. It is clear that without serious heavy weaponry, the guardsmen could not hold back the advance of the armored group. Now it is advancing towards Kyiv, in some places it was suspended,” says Viktor Yahun.
The expert notes that the situation in Kyiv is very complicated, as there are many ways to pass. But if the Russians enter the city, that’s where they will stay – territorial defense and the people of Kyiv are ready for it.
“Weapons are issued to people who have have the appropriate documents and who will provide protection for the city’s facilities. Many volunteers together with the National Police provide protection of facilities, roads, roadblocks in the city. The task of the Russians is simple: they do not need to take control of every resident of Kyiv, they need panic, disorganization, they want to force the leadership of Ukraine to leave the capital. This is how they will be able to realize what they have planned: to put a puppet government in Kyiv,” Yahun believes.
According to him, Russia planned to destroy Ukrainian aviation and air defense systems, but it failed. Ukraine was able to keep the main component and effectively repels air and ballistic missile attacks.
“They wanted to seize the Hostomel airfield, which can take heavy planes, deploy a base to receive paratroopers there and then organize an attack on Kyiv. Fortunately, the Ukrainians were able to reverse the situation yesterday and retake the airfield. They failed to save it; they had to destroy the runway. So now Russian paratroopers will land in the territory of Belarus, from where they plan to move into the territory of Ukraine in the direction of Homiel-Chernihiv-Kyiv by motor vehicles or armored vehicles,” says Viktor Yahun.
On February 24, the Ukrainian authorities officially recognized Belarus as an accomplice of the aggressor and occupant. According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russian aviation is controlled and guided by A-50 aircraft from the territory of the Minsk region in the airspace of Belarus and Crimea. It also emerged that Russian IL-76s with paratroopers on board have landed at the Belarusian Homiel airfield.
“There is information about the launch of 4 missiles from the territory of Belarus in the direction of Ukraine. There is information that Rivne airport in western Ukraine was shelled. I suspect that this also came from the direction of Belarus, as there is simply no other direction. The Belarusian army is helping the occupiers pass obstacles, securing local dislocations, that is, they are performing auxiliary functions of the second echelon. They have not yet entered Ukrainian territory, but by some indications, it is clear that they have a desire to enter the Volyn, Zhytomyr, and Rivno regions. Allegedly, there is an agreement that Lukashenka may take control of some of these territories, which are close to Belarus,” the expert said.
