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Five Belarusians killed while fighting alongside Ukraine’s forces in Bakhmut
Five members of a Belarusian regiment fighting with Kviv’s forces have been killed in the flashpoint east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a Belarusian opposition leader living in exile said Friday.
“Heartbroken by the death of five members of the Belarusian Kastus Kalinouski Regiment fighting for Ukraine in Bakhmut,” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said on Twitter.
Tikhanovskaya, who fled Minsk in 2020 despite claiming victory in presidential elections, is a vocal critic of Belarusian strongman and Kremlin ally Alexander Lukashenko.
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Lukashenko allowed Russian leader Vladimir Putin to send columns of Russian tanks to Ukraine last February from Belarusian territory.
“The regiment reported that a commander was killed as he enabled the evacuation of the wounded,” Tikhanovskaya said.
“Four dead soldiers remain buried under the rubble after their building was hit by enemy artillery fire and can’t be retrieved now.”
Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region once had a population of around 70,000 but has been almost entirely reduced to ruin after months of fighting.
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