Belarus says up to 9,000 Russian troops will be deployed on Ukraine border

By Burc Eruygur

ANKARA (AA) - Up to 9,000 Russian troops and several hundred armored vehicles will join the Belarusian forces on the Belarus-Ukraine border, an official from the Belarusian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

“The total number of military personnel arriving in Belarus will be up to 9,000 personnel, about 170 tanks, up to 200 armored combat vehicles and up to 100 guns and mortars with a caliber of more than 100 mm,” Valery Revenko, head of the Department of International Military Cooperation of the Belarusian Defense Ministry, said in a tweet.

Revenko added that the relocation of the troops will take several days.

Earlier on Sunday, Revenko said air support for the joint regional force had begun arriving in Belarus.

On Oct. 10, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he had agreed with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the deployment of a joint regional group of troops "in connection with the aggravation on the western borders of the state."

The first troops of the Russian military under the joint regional force in Belarus arrived on Saturday.