Zelensky: Russia May Launch Full-Scale Invasion Of Europe From Belarus

• 12.02.2025, 14:44

Russian-Belarusian exercises pose a danger.

In 2025, Russia plans to increase its army by 150,000 troops, after the exercises in Belarus they could launch a full-scale invasion of European countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made this statement during an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian.

According to him, it is in NATO's interests to have Ukraine in the Alliance, because without it, Europe will be occupied.

Zelensky believes that NATO and Ukraine are still interested in each other, since the troops of Ukraine and Europe combined are smaller than the Russian army.

“Intelligence told me, we know this, the Russians will increase their army in 2025 by 12-15 divisions. And we believe that this will be somewhere around 150,000 additional troops through mobilization, training, and so on, plus North Korean [soldiers],” he said.

According to Ukrainian data, these new troops will most likely undergo training on the territory of Belarus in the summer or fall. Zelensky drew a parallel between this and the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which the Russians also carried out from this country.

“When they [Russian troops] are ready, then I believe that after that they can begin a full-scale invasion. And at this point I have a question: who said that they will begin a full-scale invasion of Ukraine? They will be able to begin in Poland, Lithuania. They will be able to begin this,” the head of the Ukrainian state said.

The President stressed that if dictator Vladimir Putin really wanted peace, an end to the war and a dialogue about it, he would not have increased his armed forces by 150,000 people and trained them in Russia and Belarus, given the major problems in the Russian economy due to sanctions and other factors.