By Staff, Agencies Belarus has amassed a large number of troops at the border, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, warning Minsk against making “tragic mistakes.” Citing intelligence reports, the ministry said that the Belarusian Armed Forces are “concentrating a significant number of personnel,” including tanks and artillery, in the Gomel Region “under the guise of exercises.” “The presence of mercenaries of the former Wagner PMC was also recorded,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.

It went on to argue that holding drills near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant “poses a threat to the national security of Ukraine and global security in general.” The ministry warned Minsk “not to make tragic mistakes” and urged the neighboring country to “cease unfriendly actions and withdraw forces away from Ukraine’s state border to a distance greater than the firing range of Belarus’ systems.” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko earlier accused Kiev of a dangerous military buildup, claiming that Kiev had amassed more than 120,000 troops on its northern border.

“Having seen their aggressive policy, we have deployed our troops to certain areas near our border,” Lukashenko said in an interview with Russian broadcaster VGTRK this month.

“I was forced to deploy almost a third of [the Belarusian] army to reinforce the existing forces.” He added that the troops are ready to defend Belarus should a war break out.

Belarus has a defense pact with Russia and Russian nuclear weapons are stationed on its territory.