LVIV, Ukraine: Ukraine said Belarus could be planning to invade its territory on Friday and accused Russia of trying to drag its ally into the war by staging air attacks on Belarus from Ukrainian air space.
Belarus has served as a staging post for Russian troops, missiles and aircraft, both before and after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, but it has not deployed its own forces in active battle.
Ukraine's military accused Russian aircraft of firing at Belarusian border villages from Ukrainian air space on Friday to provide an excuse for an offensive. "This is a PROVOCATION! The goal is to involve the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus in the war with Ukraine!" Ukraine's Air Force Command said in an online statement.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Air Force Command's statement. The alleged attacks took place as Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, according to Ukraine's State Centre for Strategic Communications.
The result of this meeting could be an attack by Belarus across Ukraine's northern border, the centre said in statement. "According to preliminary data, Belarusian troops may be drawn into an invasion on March 11 at 21:00 (1900 GMT)," it said.
Last week, Lukashenko, a close Kremlin ally, said Belarusian armed forces were not taking part and would not take part in what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. Ukrainian senior officials said Russia was doing everything possible to draw Belarus into the conflict, after failing in what Western countries say was an initial plan for a lightning assault on the capital.
"We also understand that the Belarusian government has been doing everything possible to avoid joining this war," Ukrainian deputy interior minister Yevheniy Yenin said on national television on Friday.
There was no immediate comment on the allegations from Belarus. Ukraine's top security official Oleksiy Danilov said Ukraine had so far shown restraint towards Belarus, despite Russia using it as a launchpad for attacks on Ukraine. But he warned on Friday if "one fighter crosses our border, we will fight back."
Meanwhile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy struck a more conciliatory note in a speech to the government of neighbouring Poland, which also shares a border with Belarus. "I really want these words to be heard by our common neighbours - Belarusians. Peace between relatives, peace between neighbors, peace between brothers, we must achieve this with them too. And we definitely will," Zelenskiy said.
Meanwhile, US Vice-President Kamala Harris on Friday said Russian President Vladimir Putin "shows no sign of engaging in serious diplomacy" as she accused Moscow of "atrocious and outrageous conduct" in Ukraine.
"The US has been attempting sincerely to engage in diplomacy actively and from everything we know and witnessed Putin shows no sign of engaging in serious diplomacy," Harris said on a visit to Romania.
"We maintain that diplomacy is the way to resolve issues, (but) that coexists with our commitment to ensure that our allies are strong and that there must be serious consequences and accountability for Russia’s doings," Harris told a news conference in Bucharest with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
"That’s why we engaged in historic sanctions," added Harris of the Western response to the February 24 invasion as she warned of "more actions that we will take to ensure serious consequences for what is atrocious and outrageous conduct".
"We are clear that any intentional attack by targeting civilians is a war crime. Period," said Harris, alluding to a midweek attack on a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol which killed at least three people, including a child.
The World Health Organization has to date logged 26 attacks, causing at least 12 deaths, on health facilities in Ukraine since the conflict began. Harris has been visiting Nato allies Poland and Romania this week to show US support as conflict rages over their respective borders with Ukraine.
Washington last month redeployed a 1,000-strong unit US service personnel from Germany to Romania to a base near the Black Sea, all but doubling the US troop presence in the country.The UN warned Russia Friday that attacks that target civilians were banned and could amount to war crimes, as it raised the use of cluster bombs in Ukraine.
The UN human rights office said Friday it was gravely concerned by the rising death toll in the conflict following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recorded 564 civilians killed and 982 injured, though it acknowledged that the actual figures are "considerably higher".
"We remind the Russian authorities that directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as so-called area bombardment in towns and villages and other forms of indiscriminate attacks, are prohibited under international law and may amount to war crimes," OHCHR spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell said.
"Civilians are being killed and maimed in what appear to be indiscriminate attacks, with Russian forces using explosive weapons with wide area effects in or near populated areas," she told reporters in Geneva. She said these included missiles, heavy artillery shells, rockets and air strikes.