By Brian Whitmore
The axis of autocrats in Eastern Europe is also an axis of war criminals.
Russian air and missile strikes from Belarusian territory and airspace hit a Ukrainian kindergarten and an apartment complex on June 25. The attacks killed a 37-year-old man and injured his wife and seven-year-old daughter. Additionally, according to Ukraine’s northern military command, at least 20 rockets launched from Belarus struck the village of Desna, 70 kilometers north of Kyiv in the Chernihiv region.
“Russian bombers ‘worked’ directly from the territory of Belarus,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry wrote in a post on its Facebook page, adding that six aircraft had launched 12 missiles from Belarusian airspace. “The strikes were carried out in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.”
The wave of air and missile strikes against Ukraine from Belarusian territory this past weekend are the latest indication that, despite frequent protestations to the contrary, Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s autocratic regime is a full and willing combatant in Vladimir Putin’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.