Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian ally Alexander Lukashenko met in St. Petersburg on Sunday. In the greeting, Lukashenko said of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, according to Russian agencies: “There is no counteroffensive.” Putin replied: “There is, but it failed.” Lukashenko was angered by the assertion that Wagner mercenaries stationed in Belarus wanted to “march to Warsaw”.
According to Russian news agency Interfax, the Belarusian ruler said: “The Wagners are starting to stress us out. They say: ‘We want to go West, let’s go’. I ask why they want to go West. ‘Well, we want to take a trip to Poland, to Rzeszow’.” Lukashenko handed Putin a map on the relocation of parts of the Polish armed forces to the borders of the EU state.
After the official appearance, the two authoritarian politicians showered in the crowd. The two visited a naval museum and the Nikolai Naval Cathedral in Kronstadt, near St. Petersburg.
US: Ukraine regains half of occupied territory
According to the United States, Ukraine has already recovered about half of the areas that Russia originally occupied during its invasion. However, the latest counteroffensive is only in its infancy and will be a “very tough fight,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN on Sunday. “It’s not going to happen in the next week or two,” he continues. It will likely take “several months”.
➤ You can read all current developments in Ukraine’s war here
Ukrainian forces launched the long-awaited counter-offensive last month, but so far have had little success against well-entrenched Russian invading forces. US Chief of Staff Mark Milley recently said Ukraine’s counter-offensive was “far from a failure” but would be long, hard and bloody.
➤ Read more – Kremlin: Russian media representative killed in Ukraine