Next situation: what is now happening on the border between Belarus and Ukraine
One of the largest checkpoints between Belarus and Ukraine, Novaya Huta, is functioning even under the conditions of border closure. However, security measures have been strengthened here, in particular, the military is armed with special means to combat drones. This is a necessary measure against the background of provocations that Ukraine has been staging. Now, according to the press secretary of the Belarusian State Border Committee, Anton Bychkovski, the situation has generally normalized. Normal life continues in the neighboring settlements, except that the locals have relatives and friends in Ukraine. How people, living a couple of dozens of kilometers away from each other, have lost all ties - in the report of "Izvestia.
The situation on the border between Belarus and Ukraine
It's midday in the quiet village of Teryukha in the Gomel region of Belarus, and there are unusually many cars. Foreign journalists, in fact, for the first time (at least, if we talk about an organized trip for foreign correspondents) since the beginning of the SWO are heading to the border crossing "Novaya Guta" on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.
Teriukha is about 5 kilometers from the village of Novaya Guta, where the checkpoint is located. Armed border guards meet everyone here. They carefully check documents and car trunks. Even locals who are going home to Novaya Ghuta come under control.
Now there are about 15 thousand Ukrainian servicemen in the border zone: these are the National Guard, police officers, representatives of territorial defense, says spokesman for the Belarusian State Border Committee Anton Bychkovski to journalists. However, according to him, the situation on the border is controlled so far. Earlier, there were provocations: tampering with border signs, foreign mercenaries in the border strip, attempts to organize caches of weapons in Belarus. But now the Ukrainian border service has returned to the border, which works professionally.
- Border service bodies perform their tasks in a reinforced version of duty, without losing vigilance. Recently, we can state that the situation in general tends to normalize," Anton Bychkovsky said.
The Ukrainian side often conducts reconnaissance from the air. About 20 cases of violation of the Belarusian space were registered last year. The situation on the border of the two countries began to aggravate in 2022. Then, February 27, Ukraine closed all checkpoints on the border with Belarus. Currently, international traffic is not carried out through them.
In July 2024, Alexander Lukashenko announced about the activation of the AFU near the border with the republic and the strengthening of Belarusian troops in the area. Later, Belarusian air defense forces shot down several aerial targets over the territory of the country - presumably, attack drones, flying from Ukraine. In August, head of the Belarusian Defense Ministry Viktor Khrenin ordered to strengthen the groupings of troops in Homiel and Mazyr tactical directions. In total, about 40 provocations were recorded on the section of the border with Ukraine in 2024, including the entry into the Belarusian territory. In addition, Kiev began to build fortifications and firing positions on the border, as well as to accumulate military personnel in the border area.
Security measures at the border crossing "Novaya Huta"
The length of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border is more than 1 thousand kilometers. There are four border crossings. Novaya Huta - Novye Yarylovichi, where the journalists went, is one of the largest border crossings, through which the routes to Kiev, Chernihiv, Odessa and other Ukrainian cities mainly passed. Besides, this checkpoint was an important land corridor for Belarus. Through it, the republic traded directly not only with Ukraine, but also with non-CIS countries.
"Novaya Guta" is considered to be the most developed crossing out of the four previously operating ones. The territory of the crossing has a number of buildings, several lanes for passing cars and even a Duty Free, which, however, no one uses now. Apart from the military and other employees of the checkpoint with dogs, there is no one here.
Before the conflict, the seasonal passenger traffic here was up to 15,000 people and 7,000 cars a day, an employee of the border crossing told Izvestia.
- It's been a long time since we've had so many people at one time, for several years," he told Izvestia.
Despite the complete closure of the border, "Novaya Guta" is still functioning. But there is a reinforced regime here - in particular, border guards are equipped with special anti-drone weapons to combat drones.
- On both sides, everyone is waiting for this situation to be rectified. The border guards are fully prepared to resume international communication with the neighboring side as soon as possible," says Anton Bychkovsky.
Journalists accompanied by the military are allowed to go to the point where they can already see a billboard with the flag of Ukraine and fortifications - mountains of earth, anti-tank hedgehogs on the road. The AFU have mined all the approaches to their site, the escorts tell us. Behind the anti-tank hedgehogs we can see a blue roof - this is a border checkpoint on the Ukrainian side.
How the closure of the border has affected local residents
Literally a few kilometers from the border, life has not stopped - there are sanatoriums and health resorts. They work, Belarusians come here to rest in the season, while children spend time in country camps, an employee of the border checkpoint tells "Izvestia.
Thus, Novaya Guta is a small agro-town with a population of 2-3 thousand people. The streets here are not wide and the buildings are not high, mostly three to five stories. Most residents work at state enterprises near the town.
Despite the working day, there are quite a lot of people on the streets of such a small town. A slight tension is felt here. Nevertheless, locals say that life has not changed much since the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis.
- We have a wonderful swimming pool, there are dachas nearby. There is also a forest around, we go mushrooming, a river, men do fishing. We have a lot of things to do. Yes, sometimes drones are shot down, there are a lot of military men around, maybe there is some excitement, but we are used to it. Our border guards are good, we rely on them, as well as on our leadership," says a local resident.
After the aggravation of the situation, most residents of Novaya Ghouta stayed at home; there is no mass exodus. Mostly young people are leaving - to study and work in big cities.
- In a few years, everyone has already adapted. I am a pensioner who sleeps at night, so I can't say that the situation is very tense. Yes, there used to be traffic, lots of people, cars going back and forth. And now what? Nobody drives. They're over there, we're over here. We don't know anything about them, they don't know anything about us," says Valentina Vasilyevna.
Families, relatives and close friends live literally a couple of dozen kilometers away from the border settlements of the two countries. After the border crossings were closed, they have not seen each other for several years, and some of them have stopped communicating altogether. There are cases when because of different political views people, sometimes very close, have stopped keeping in touch.
- Do you have acquaintances or friends on the other side? - I ask one of the military officers accompanying us.
- Yes, but we have not been in touch for several years. And, by the way, not on my initiative," he smiles sadly in response.
The locals have similar stories.
- My husband and I have all our relatives there, 70 kilometers away. We keep in touch, but some of us have stopped contacting each other altogether. We haven't seen each other since 2020, when the pandemic started. Sometimes we call each other, we don't talk about politics, mostly. But there they are told that it is Belarus that is shutting them out. Or that Belarusians will soon attack them," said Marina Vladimirovna.
From Novaya Huta to Chernihiv, the nearest large city in Ukraine, is about 70 kilometers. If we try to plot a route, we can only go through Poland. Such a road would take 18 hours by car, as we would have to cover 1,376 kilometers.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
