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An independent defence analyst has told Sky News that “everything points towards Belarus joining the war in the future”.

Konrad Muzyka described Belarusian forces as “a bit of a mystery”, but added that the regular forces had been training virtually none stop since April and they had recently updated the data for their reserves. 

The Polish defence analyst said: “The intensity and the scope of military activity that the Belarusians have been undertaking has been the highest since the end of the Cold War. 

 “We have never seen Belarusian forces train so much. Since the end of April, they have essentially practiced every military capability that would be needed for Belarus to join the war.

“They have also tested the mobilisation capacity, they recently announced that they finished updating the data for all Belarusian reservists. 

“What this means is that the reserve system is now ready for mobilisation. What we need now is a political decision to start mobilisation and go to war. 

“Whether or not this will happen, we don’t know, because we have no insight into what [Belarusian President] Lukashenko is thinking. But everything points at Belarus joining the war sometime in the future.” 

He explained that there are currently between 10,000 and 15,000 Russian troops currently stationed in the country and they had been regularly training alongside Belarusian forces.

However, he went on to suggest that any potential involvement was unlikely to be imminent, adding: “So far these activities are limited to training ranges, and we have seen no indication that forces, either Russian or Belarusian, are actually being moved to border regions with Ukraine.”