Belarusian troops haven’t invaded Ukraine because they’re not ready — military expert
Belarusian forces didn’t join Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine because they simply weren’t prepared for real combat, said Ukrainian military analyst Serhiy Hrabskyi in an interview with NV on April 11.
“Let’s stop talking about ‘Belarus’ and ‘Belarusian troops’ as if they’re independent actors,” Hrabskyi said in an interview with NV on April 11. “Let’s call it what it is: the Belarusian corps of the Russian army. It’s basically the Belarusian military district from the Soviet era.”
When asked why Belarusian troops haven’t physically participated in the war alongside Russia, Hrabskyi said they’re playing exactly the role Moscow assigned them — and no more.
“That role was made clear during the Zapad series of joint strategic military exercises,” he explained. “These drills, held in 2017, 2019, and 2021, showed that the Belarusian corps of the Russian army wasn’t ready for the kind of war Russia was counting on. The size and quality of their forces just weren’t up to the task.”
Belarus under pressure to join Russia’s war
On March 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was trying to drag Belarus into the war. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy noted that Moscow plans to send Russian troops into Belarus in the summer of 2025 under the guise of joint “military exercises” — which he said could serve as a springboard for an attack on NATO.
On April 9, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi echoed those concerns. He said the upcoming Zapad-2025 exercises, set to take place in Belarus this fall, may be part of preparations for another potential offensive against Ukraine involving Russian and Belarusian troops.
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