MINSK, January 10. /TASS/. There are more than 500,000 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, Belarus’ Security Council State Secretary Alexander Volfovich said.
"To date, we have counted over 500,000 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, which were installed along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. Almost all bridges have been destroyed and checkpoints have been closed," Volfovich said, as cited by the SB. Belarus Segodnya (Today) newspaper.
According to Volfovich, "Ukrainian border guards are often drunk when on duty; they aim their weapons at" Belarusian territory, venture into border areas and violate airspace by flying drones.
"We were and still are fraternal nations, but Ukraine has evolved into a bargaining chip for the collective West. Even prior to the special military operation, the political leadership joined the West in its sanctions against Belarus, closed its airspace and banned our civilian flights through Ukrainian territory, thus violating all norms of international law," he emphasized.
On Wednesday, Volfovich visited the Mozyr border guard detachment, where a maneuver force has been formed. The security official recalled that the task of reviving rapid response border detachment was set by President Alexander Lukashenko in 2018.
"This instruction by the president is being implemented in accordance with the plan of building and developing the border guard bodies. The president will shortly be notified of the decision to protect the state border in 2024," the BelTa news agency reported, citing Volfovich.
The Mozyr border guard detachment consists of nine border outposts, four border control units and a maneuver team. It was set up on the basis of the Prudok commandant’s office, which was pulled out of the Gomel border guard group. The detachment controls the border in three districts of the Gomel Region, which shares a border with Ukraine.