OSHMYANY DISTRICT, 26 March (BelTA) – Ordinary soldiers accomplish the key mission in any war, BelTA learned from Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
According to the head of state, the development of the army should focus on peculiarities of modern warfare. Belarus has a lot of forests and swamps. This is why in addition to cutting-edge high-precision weapons the army also needs conventional weapons and skillful actions of military personnel in the field: “How can they [the enemy] move tanks, armored personnel carriers and so on here? If they move along roads, we can cut the roads. They cannot pass through forests. It is our land. We know every bit of it. We can set up an ambush and destroy them. A tank can be destroyed with an ordinary grenade launcher or a similar tank.”
“Don’t forget that ordinary soldiers, conventional weapons accomplish the key mission in any war. Plus reinforcements. The war in Ukraine demonstrates that unmanned aerial vehicles are very effective: recon and strike drones,” the president said.
Radio warfare solutions are also important, including for fighting drones. “It is a novelty one cannot do without,” the Belarusian leader stressed.
Apart from that, counterbattery fire is important. Artillery has always been considered the god of war. Artillery is still very important, very valuable, the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that back in the day Belarus did not abandon basic things and conventional weapons. Practice demonstrates that those are in demand and effective in modern armed conflicts. The president gave a concrete example: “We didn’t abandon mines and mine emplacement back in the day. I remember they suggested getting rid of mines to me as a young president. I told them not to hurry up and destroy them. Look at Ukraine’s experience. They lay mines on approaches.”
The head of state explained that, for instance, Russians laid mine fields on approaches to their trenches and Ukrainian soldiers could not get across these mine fields during a failed counteroffensive.
“The same can be said about assault rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers. A war is impossible without them today. Tanks, armored personnel carriers and things like that. Conventional weapons have demonstrated their might,” the head of state said.
Nevertheless, Belarus has modern air defense systems capable of destroying the enemy’s aerial targets. “Whatever an S-400 may be, although it is a very sophisticated air defense system, no war can be fought today without conventional weapons and soldiers, without officers and commanders,” the president is convinced.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also drew attention to military training. “We have started teaching more. We now have to resolve the problem of training reserve personnel. Including officers. They need to be taught because they will have to teach soldiers later on. They have to be in control,” he said.
