Satellite images from the private American company Maxar Technologies released on Sunday showed details of military maneuvers on the border between Belarus and Ukraine on the eve of the joint exercises announced by Moscow and Minsk, which NATO called the largest deployment to Belarus since the Cold War. The UNN writes about it, citing Reuters.
Images by the U.S. company Maxar Technologies showed that military units armed with missiles, multiple rocket launchers, and ground attack aircraft had been deployed to Belarus at three locations near the border with Ukraine.
Maxar Technologies said it took pictures of military equipment near Yelsk, Rechitsa, and Luninets on February 4. All of the sites are located within 50 kilometers of the border with Ukraine.
Satellite images showed that Maxar Technologies identified as 15 Su-25 attack aircraft and S-400 SAMs at the Luninets airfield, as well as SS26 Iskander missiles and multiple rocket launchers near Yelsk.
The pictures show several tent camps set up in Rechitsa for the first time.
Analysts of the military intelligence company IHS/Janes believe that there are elements of at least three tactical groups of Russian battalions in Yelsk.
As a reminder, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it had sent S-400 missile systems and Su-25 combat aircraft to participate in the exercise. On the eve of the exercise, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited the training ground in western Belarus on Thursday.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last week called Russia's maneuvers in Belarus the largest Russian deployment in the area since the Cold War and added that Iskander missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads were part of it.
Note that Russia and Belarus have announced that they will hold a joint exercise called Union Resolve 2022 on February 10-20, aimed at practicing repelling an attack on their alliance's southern borders.
