26 January 2026, 11:55

Lukashenko: Army readiness inspection will continue until spring

MINSK, 26 January (BelTA) –The combat readiness inspection in the Armed Forces will continue until spring, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting to discuss a project to set up an educational center offering training in the professions of the future in Minsk on 26 January, BelTA has learned.

The president recalled that the army readiness inspection is currently in progress: “It will continue under these serious conditions until spring.”

In this regard the head of state, noted that currently, people are “simply going crazy over” unmanned aerial vehicles: “Entire plants and factories are churning them out. And not only Ukrainians and Russians, who are using them for warfare today. Their use has proved quite effective,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Nevertheless, the Belarusian leader posed the following question: Will unmanned aerial vehicles truly be such a significant advantage for Belarus in military operations? “Will they really help us that much in forested and swampy terrain? Especially in wooded areas. In a steppe or desert everything is in plain sight: you launch a 'bird' [UAV] and locate the target. Nothing obstructs the attack. But how does it work in a forest? Again, these are just my thoughts,” he emphasized.

As BelTA has reported, a large-scale inspection of the Armed Forces, ordered by the head of state, began on 16 January. Aleksandr Lukashenko is overseeing its progress. A new system has been developed whereby the president, bypassing the Defense Ministry and the General Staff, places military units on combat alert. The primary goal of such an inspection is to obtain an objective assessment. This is precisely why the measures are conducted with an element of surprise.