Russia withdraws majority of its military from Belarus – Ukraine’s State Border Service

As part of the rotation, Russia has withdrawn almost all of its military personnel from Belarus, where they underwent training and preparation.

The spokesman of the State Border Service, Andriy Demchenko, reported that at a briefing in Kyiv.

"The situation on the border with Belarus remains fully under control. On the other side of the border, we do not see that the enemy has a group necessary for a repeated invasion of Ukraine. Despite everything, we must be ready for any development of the situation because Belarus, unfortunately, continues to support Russia in its war against Ukraine," said the spokesman of the State Border Service.

He noted that Russia, among other things, uses Belarus as a unit training ground.

"Fortunately, the number of Russian military personnel on Belarusian training grounds has been decreasing recently, until recently we fixed this number at the level of up to 2,000 military personnel, but at the moment, another rotation has taken place, and almost all Russian military personnel have been withdrawn from the territory of Belarus.

It cannot be ruled out that soon, additional units may be re-established on the territory of Belarus, but at the moment, we do not confirm this," Andriy Demchenko said.

Furthermore, according to the representative, Ukraine's State Border Service has not seen any sign of Russian mercenaries from private military companies entering Belarus, which was reported beforehand, since Russia hasn't prepared any accommodations for them.

It should be noted that on June 30, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Zelensky instructed the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, and the commander of the "North" Serhii Naev to strengthen the northern direction.

For reference:

After the unsuccessful attempt to mutiny the owner of Wagner Private Military Company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin sent mercenaries to Belarus. This was agreed upon by the self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. The Kremlin promised that the criminal proceedings against Prigozhin would be stopped, and the authorities would not prosecute the Wagner mercenaries for the attempted coup.

The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, called the sending of Yevgeny Prigozhin to Belarus and the prospect of redeploying the Wagner PMC fighters there a "negative signal." Latvia and Lithuania called on NATO to strengthen their eastern borders.

But the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, believes that the Wagner contingent, which may relocate to Belarus after an attempted mutiny in Russia, cannot seriously threaten Ukraine from the north.

The State Border Service of Ukraine assumes Belarus can host approximately 8,000 mercenaries of the Wagner PMC on its territory. The deployment of field camps is observed at a considerable distance from the border of Ukraine. Still, the presence of mercenaries in Belarus will constitute an additional potential threat to Ukraine, the State Border Service emphasized.

It should be noted that in his latest statement, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed that the owner of the "Wagner" PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is not on the territory of the country –  he is in Russia.

On July 4, Nayev announced that in connection with the events surrounding the Zaporizhzhia NPP, a decision was made to strengthen our country's northern border with personnel and military equipment.

Also, Nayev previously stated that the transfer of the Wagner mercenaries to Belarus has not been recorded.

The commander also informed that the work on the border with Belarus continues.