The European Fee on Monday raised the spectre of additional sanctions in opposition to Belarus, urging Minsk to cease spreading “false accusations” in opposition to Ukraine and to name off a joint grouping of troops with Russia. 

Belarus’ autocratic chief Alexander Lukashenko, an in depth ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reiterated claims on Monday throughout a gathering with army and safety officers that “finishing up strikes on the territory of Belarus is not only being mentioned, it’s being deliberate in Ukraine.”

He additionally stated that the 2 leaders have agreed to create a joint “regional grouping of troops,” however provided no particulars as to the place or when such a grouping is perhaps deployed.

International affairs spokesman Peter Stano instructed reporters in Brussels that the Fee “took word of the false accusations” which he branded “completely unfounded, ridiculous” and “completely unacceptable.”

“Ukraine right here is the sufferer. Ukraine just isn’t the aggressor. And we remind the Belarussian regime that Ukraine is underneath brutal, unlawful assault, which is in violation of the UN constitution and in violation of worldwide legislation. And we urge the regime in Minsk to chorus from any involvement of Belarus on this brutal, illegitimate enterprise.”

“And we additionally urge the regime in Minsk to right away cease permitting the territory of Belarus to function a launchpad for air strikes, together with the very latest missile strikes and drone assaults in opposition to Ukraine and the targets in Ukrainian territories,” he added.

Lukashenko’s newest claims got here as Russia despatched a salvo of missiles in opposition to Ukrainian targets on Monday, together with in Kiyv the place no less than ten folks have been killed and dozens extra injured.

The simultaneous assaults in opposition to the capital, the western metropolis of Lviv, which has been a refuge for many individuals fleeing the preventing within the east, in addition to in Kharkiv, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi, symbolize a sudden army escalation and are available three days after an explosion on the bridge connecting Russia to the illegally annexed peninsula of Crimea.

Putin on Saturday referred to as the blast a “terrorist act” perpetrated by Ukrainian particular companies.

Requested about additional sanctions in opposition to Russia, Stano burdened that if Belarus proceeds with the grouping of troops with Russia “this will probably be one more escalation of this and this is not going to be unanswered from the facet of the European Union.”

“Let me recall that every one these steps, particularly by the Belarussian regime, are in opposition to the desire of the vast majority of the inhabitants and will probably be met with new and stronger restrictive measures from the facet of the European Union,” he added.