War in Ukraine, live: Ukraine claims to have retaken eighty-eight localities from Russian forces in the Kherson region; Moscow accuses kyiv of bombing a column of civilians

Belarus and Iran, interested allies of a beleaguered Russia Belarus claims its alignment with Moscow’s positions, but raises doubts about its capabilities. The Islamic Republic of Iran denies any involvement in the conflict, but delivers drones. In difficulty on the Ukrainian front, Russia relies on two allies with almost opposite postures. Up to 9,000 Russian soldiers and 170 tanks will be deployed in Belarus in a joint military grouping. Minsk never sent soldiers to Ukraine, but made its territory available to Moscow, from which one of the Russian columns left during the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Is this unit a game-changer? The hypothesis of a direct intervention by Belarus seems, in any case, improbable. Its armed forces are “in a sorry state”, assures Giovanni Chiacchio, analyst of the Italian think tank Geopolitica. They are essentially made up of “conscripts without adequate training or motivation” and with equipment of “highly questionable” reliability. Read also: The military escalation of Vladimir Putin in Ukraine is troubling the game of Belarusian leader Lukashenko On the ground, Iranian suicide drones have been the novelty of recent weeks. In particular, the Russians used it to strike Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Moscow speaks of “unfounded conclusions”. The United States said on Thursday that “Iranian military [avaie]nt been on the ground in Crimea and helped Russia”. Iran also denied Thursday press reports suggesting the imminent shipment of missiles to Russia. The American daily Washington Post, among others, mentioned the supply of surface-to-surface missiles. Read also: War in Ukraine: Iranian drones Shahed-136, the weapon of the poor of Vladimir Putin De facto allies of Moscow, Minsk and Tehran have neither the same interests nor the same relations with the Kremlin. Isolated against the West, destabilized internally by violent demonstrations, Tehran is playing several cards at the same time. ” [L’Iran] needs the Kremlin to counter the Turks and Azerbaijanis in the Caucasus, to deliver the latest generation fighters and the cruise missiles that go with them, to put pressure on Israel in Syria and to balance the Chinese presence which is becoming very strong” , summarizes Pierre Razoux, academic director of the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies (FMES). Minsk, for its part, is walking on eggshells. President Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, needs Moscow’s support but has little to offer. To weigh in Ukraine, Lukashenko “should mobilize his population and call the 300,000 reservists of his army”, confirms Ivan Klyszcz, researcher for the Institute of Foreign Policy in Tallinn, Estonia. “It’s a line he won’t cross, for the sake of his own political survival. »