By HANNA ARHIROVA and YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus’ exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited Kyiv on Monday as the Ukrainian capital cleaned up after Russia’s biggest missile attack of the year, and world leaders kept a close eye on how much support the Belarusian government is ready to provide for Moscow’s all-out invasion.
Russia and ally Belarus held joint nuclear drills last week, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned in recent days that Belarus could provide a launchpad for Russia to open a new front in northern Ukraine. Some Russian troops entered Ukraine from Belarusian territory in Moscow’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
In a further sign of concern, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday about the war in Ukraine, their first call since the invasion began.
Russia warns of more ‘systemic strikes’
Further “systemic strikes” on Kyiv are in store, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. It urged foreign citizens, including members of diplomatic missions, to leave the city as quickly as possible and told residents to stay away from military and government facilities.
The ministry said Friday’s deadly Ukrainian drone strike on a college dormitory in Starobilsk was “the final straw.” Ukraine said it hit only targets supporting Russia’s invasion.
The Russian army is locked in a hard and costly slog on the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line that mostly snakes through eastern and southern Ukraine.
“Russia hit a dead-end on the battlefield, so it terrorizes Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centers,” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said on X, after the weekend barrage that killed two people and damaged buildings across the Ukrainian capital.
With U.S.-made air defense missiles in short supply because of the Iran war, Russian missiles are harder for Ukraine to stop. Meanwhile, U.S. efforts to stop the fighting have stalled.
Countries keep a wary eye on Belarus
In his call with Lukashenko, Macron “underscored the risks for Belarus of allowing itself to be dragged into Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” according to a presidential aide in the French leader’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the presidential palace’s practices. Macron also spoke Sunday with Zelenskyy.
A terse readout released by the Belarusian presidential press service said the call with Macron took place “on the French side’s initiative” and the leaders discussed “regional issues” and Belarusian relations with the EU and France.
Belarusian opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya on her first visit to Kyiv, told The Associated Press on Sunday that “Lukashenko’s regime knows well what needs to be done to improve ties with the European Union, but it isn’t happening. Instead, hybrid attacks, nuclear blackmail and threats to the entire region.
Speaking after meeting with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv, Tsikhanouskaya said that “Ukraine is defending not only its independence but also the right of our peoples to live without imperial dictatorship, without violence and fear.”
“I am convinced that Ukraine’s victory will open the way to Belarus’s freedom,” she told a news conference.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who appeared alongside Tsikhanouskaya, emphasized that “Ukraine consistently differentiates between the regime that has dragged Belarus into Russian aggression and the Belarusian people,” adding that “we appreciate the contribution of Belarusian volunteers, journalists, human rights advocates and activists who are fighting for freedom, both ours and yours.”
Lukashenko, who has governed his country of some 9.5 million people with an iron fist for more than three decades, relies on the Kremlin for cheap energy, loans and other support. Western countries have repeatedly slapped sanctions on Belarus, including for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory to invade Ukraine.
More recently, Lukashenko has been trying to improve ties with the West. Since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Lukashenko has released hundreds of political prisoners as part of deals that lifted some U.S. sanctions.
Russia fires hypersonic missile at Ukraine
Sunday’s bombardment included Russia’s powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile, which can carry multiple warheads. Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted it can travel up to 10 times the speed of sound and evade air defense systems.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence services had received tipoffs from the United States and European countries that Russia was preparing to launch an Oreshnik.
In addition to the two deaths, at least 91 people were wounded in Sunday’s barrage, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv City Administration.
Shattered glass littered sidewalks on Monday after Ukrainian authorities said the assault damaged buildings across the city, including near government offices, residential buildings, schools and a market.
Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, led ambassadors from more than 70 countries on a visit to the sites of the strikes. He urged the international community to step up pressure on Moscow and ensure Ukraine gets more air defense assets.
In other developments:
Russia’s Federal Security Service said divers found magnetic mines attached to the hull of a liquefied petroleum gas tanker in the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga. The tanker Arrhenius was bound for Samsun, Turkey, it said, adding that the limpet mines were made in a NATO member country. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
Meanwhile, a Russian missile hit a business in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Derhachi, killing two people and wounding 19 others Monday, Kharkiv regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov said. Seventeen people were hospitalized.
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Associated Press writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.