Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (R) enter the hall during the plenary session of the Supreme Council of Russia and Belarus, at Constantine Palace on January 29, 2024, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
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Belarus began military exercises on Tuesday in areas along its borders with Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland, the Belarus Defense Ministry said.
The exercises will be held over three days in the Gomel and Grodno regions, and are aimed at preparing officers and regional defense personnel for the possible defense of their regions, as well as practicing protocols in the event of martial law being enacted in the country. The ministry said on the messaging app Telegram.
Poland and Lithuania are members of both the European Union and NATO.
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have continued to exchange drone strikes in recent days, with Russia on Monday evening targeting energy facilities in raids on the Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovograd regions, Ukraine's Southern Operations Command said on Facebook.
The military unit said air defense forces destroyed three drones over Dnipropetrovsk while other units intercepted the rest, but an infrastructure target in Kirovograd was hit without casualties.
Ukraine responded on Tuesday by striking one of Russia's largest oil refineries in the Tatarstan region, about 800 miles from the front lines, and claimed to have caused significant damage to a military target.
