Ukraine’s counteroffensive “has failed”, Russian President Vladimir Putin says, as he hosts Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, his close ally, for talks in St Petersburg.
“There is no counteroffensive,” Russian news agencies quoted Lukashenko as saying on Sunday.
Putin replied: “It exists but it has failed.”
Ukraine began its long-anticipated counteroffensive last month but has so far made only small gains against well-entrenched Russian forces who control more than a sixth of its territory after almost 17 months of war.
United States General Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday the Ukrainian drive was “far from a failure” but would be long, hard and bloody.
A Telegram channel linked to Lukashenko quoted him as saying in a jocular tone that fighters of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who are now training Belarus’s army were keen to push across the border into NATO member Poland.
“The Wagner guys have started to stress us – they want to go west,” he was quoted as saying.
“Let’s go on a trip to Warsaw and Rzeszow.”
There was no indication that Lukashenko was seriously entertaining that idea.
Poland is moving extra troops toward the border with Belarus in response to the arrival of Wagner forces who relocated there after a short-lived mutiny in Russia last month.