The former commander of the 

Army in Europe, retired general Ben Godges, calls Belarus "the biggest unknown component" in the Russian war.

He expressed this opinion in an interview with Channel 24.

According to him, he still cannot say with certainty whether the self-proclaimed Belarusian president Oleksand Lukashenko will take an active part in the hostilities.

However, the territory will be provided for the troops of the Russian Federation. 

"What exactly will Lukashenko do? I think he will continue to allow the Russians to use the country's territory for their own purposes, but I don't know if he himself will take an active part in it. I also don't know if the Belarusian people will sit idly by. I believe that they will do to the Russians the same as they did to the Germans in 1942 - they will attack the rear and partisans," said Godges. 

He said that the Russian Federation seeks to "draw Ukrainian forces to the north when they are needed in the east and south."

We will remind, Godges believes that Ukraine

 in the summer: "I expect that they will liberate Crimea by August."

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