A Ukrainian official says Russia no longer has troops in Belarus to be able to launch a ground offensive from that country into Ukraine, as it did during the February 24, 2022 invasion, CNN reports, according to News.ro.

Russia has moved most of its units training in Belarus to other areas and no longer has enough ground forces to launch an offensive from its ally’s territory, a Ukrainian official said.

“Russia does not have the necessary strike group on the territory of Belarus, which would be ready and able to invade the territory of Ukraine,” said the spokesman of the State Border Service of Ukraine Andriy Demtsenko on Thursday during a briefing in Kyiv.

“At this time, Russia has withdrawn almost all of its units that have undergone training and completed their rotation. But no new units have been introduced there,” said Demchenko.

Some independent analysts said Russia had moved Belarusian units to the front line in northeastern Ukraine, between the besieged city of Kupyansk and the neighboring city of Kreminna.

Belarus is one of Russia’s staunchest allies. Minsk helped Russia launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing Kremlin forces to enter the country along the 1,000-kilometer Ukrainian-Belarusian border north of Kyiv.

Demchenko also said that Russia regularly bombards the Ukrainian regions of Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, which are located east of Belarus along Ukraine’s northern border with Russia. In these areas, “the adversary is also trying to penetrate the territory of Ukraine with the help of sabotage and reconnaissance groups,” the border guard noted. “The largest number of such attempts were registered in the Sumy region,” he said.

Recently, Ukraine announced measures to strengthen its northern border, as well as a ban on certain activities near the border.