“Belarus might be a feint”
Because of the beaver dams
“Ukrainian swamps make attack from Belarus unlikely - for now”
“Burst river banks, thick mud and waterlogged fields could be seen for miles around northwest Ukraine’s border with Belarus on Thursday, making the prospect of a Russian assault from across the border unlikely for now despite recent warnings from Kyiv.”
“Ukrainian officials have warned of a new looming Russian assault, with Belarus to the north named as one possible launchpad, as Moscow seeks to revive its faltering invasion.
Russia and its close ally Belarus have beefed up their joint military grouping in Belarus and plan to hold joint aviation drills there from next Monday.
Against this backdrop, the borderland’s thick forests and treacherous swamps are guarded by the Volyn territorial defence brigade, one of hundreds of Ukrainian units recruited from local people willing to defend their communities.”
“On the sidelines of training exercises several kilometres south of the Russian border, soldiers and officers from the unit told Reuters how the unusually mild winter had given them a considerable tactical advantage.
“On your own land, everything will help you to defend it - the landscape, lots of rivers, which have burst their banks this year,” said Viktor Rokun, one of the brigade’s deputy commanders. The fields and trees around him were submerged in murky lakes of cold water.
The unit’s spokesman, Serhiy Khominskyi, said that help in making the terrain unpassable had also come from an unlikely ally: the local beaver population.
“When they build their dams normally people destroy them, but they didn’t this year because of the war, so now there is water everywhere,” he said.”
“A car bomb exploded in Berdyansk. Mabey it’s a collaborator, who knows.”
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1613945913453547528