Throughout Kyiv, one could hear the boom of fighter planes and drones.
UKRAINE: KYIV
In Kyiv, where citizens were advised to seek shelter as Russia launched a drone strike on the Ukrainian capital, explosions sounded out before daybreak on Monday.
The Kyiv municipal government wrote on the Telegram social messaging platform, referring to the kind of explosive drone Russia has purchased from Iran and shot at Ukraine, that the enemy is assaulting the capital with a "Shahid" onslaught. Air defenses function.
Since October, Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian power facilities, substations, and transmission lines with missiles and drones in an endeavor, according to military analysts, to keep the nation in the dark and cold as winter approaches.
The attacks in the last week seem to be taking place at night as Russian forces try to get past Ukrainian lines.
The drones were shot down by the Ukrainian military using fighter jets and anti-aircraft weapons.
Over Kyiv overnight, low-flying fighter jets engaged in aerial combat with drones could be heard.
Residents also reported hearing drones, which have tiny engines and make a chainsaw-like noise as they fly, on social media.
At least four loud explosions were heard, but it was unclear if they were the result of air defenses activating or drones exploding when they targeted targets.
Former Volodymyr Zelensky advisor Ihor Novikov tweeted that he had observed drones flying overhead and that a building had been hit.
A drone just hit a residential building across the river from him, he wrote.
Attack still going on
In its article, the Kyiv government claimed that nine drones had been shot down.
The local administration urged residents to remain indoors until the air alarm was lifted.
The air raid alert had been canceled for all Ukrainian provinces by around 5 a.m., with the exception of Kyiv and the surrounding area.
Mr. Zelensky had pleaded for Western partners to give Ukraine more air defense weaponry in his evening video message just hours before the assault on the capital.
"Dear colleagues!
You may deny the terrorist state access to its primary weapon of terror by assisting us in defending our skies and equipping us with more advanced air defense equipment in sufficient numbers.
One of the most effective actions to hasten the end of hostility will be this.
Putin's visit indicates that Belarus's president is under increasing pressure to increase support for Russia's conflict in Ukraine.
RUSSIA —On Monday, Belarusian President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko will host a rare visit by his Russian counterpart, Vladimir V. Putin, to the capital of his nation under increasing pressure from the Kremlin to lend more assistance to Russia's conflict in Ukraine.
In order to retain his 28-year hold on power, Mr. Lukashenko, Mr. Putin's closest supporter, depends on Moscow for funding, fuel, and security help.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February, utilizing Belarus as a staging area for its hopeless assault on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, the two men have spoken at least six times.
However, the majority of such encounters took place outside of Belarus in Russia.
After spending months sequestered in the Kremlin and his country estate outside of Moscow, Mr. Putin has recently tried to create a more active, grab-the-bull-by-the-horns image in an effort to disassociate himself from Russia's military and diplomatic losses.
His Monday visit to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, comes after trips to Kyrgyzstan last week and an unidentified Russian military command post on Friday.
Mr. Lukashenko permitted Russia to use his territory to fire missiles and bombing sorties against Ukraine as it struggled on the battlefield, but he has so far defied Moscow's urge to send in his own forces.
The Belarusian strongman stressed that his meeting with Mr. Putin on Monday will center on economic issues, particularly the price of Russian natural gas, on which Belarus is highly dependent. His comments were carried by the state news agency Belta.
He did, however, acknowledge that "we will talk about defense capability and the security of our state" and that "of course, we will not dodge" military topics.
The Minsk meeting comes in the wake of numerous warnings from Ukraine in recent days that Russian forces may be preparing a new offensive from Belarus with the intention of either making another attempt to seize Kyiv, which is only about 55 miles from the Belarusian border or of preventing the flow of Western weapons into Ukraine from Poland.
However, the majority of military experts feel that Russia's armed forces have been so severely damaged by the conflict for almost 10 months that it is not in a position to start a new offensive from Belarus, either with or without Belarusian forces.
In a report released on Friday, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War stated that it was doubtful that Russia would launch another offensive against Ukraine since "there is currently no evidence that Russian soldiers are building a strike force in Belarus."
Belarus announced last week that it was assessing the combat capability of its troops, while earlier this month, the defense ministers of Russia and Belarus signed an unnamed agreement to improve military ties.
Just days before Russia invaded Ukraine from its land, it did that the last time.
However, the rush of military activity in Belarus, including the reportedly training arrival of thousands of Russian troops, could be a part of a sophisticated plot to persuade Ukraine to transfer its forces from active fronts in the east and south of the nation.
The Institute for the Study of War claims that Mr. Putin's meeting with Mr. Lukashenko "will strengthen the Russian propaganda operation meant to persuade Ukrainians and Westerners that Russia may strike Ukraine via Belarus."
If that is Russia's intention, it appears to be succeeding as a concern in Ukraine about the Kremlin's pressure on Belarus to join a new onslaught from the north is mounting.
Belarus was "the major item on the agenda" at a meeting conducted on Sunday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with his defense and security commanders, according to a statement from his office.
Mr. Zelensky stated in his nightly presentation that Ukraine was "getting ready for all potential defensive scenarios."
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Mr. Zelensky, said that Ukraine is preparing for the prospect that Russia will intensify the war by mounting a winter attack.
On Ukrainian television the day before, Mr. Podolyak claimed that Russia was pressuring Belarus to immediately enter the conflict. That would be "suicidal" for Mr. Lukashenko, he continued.
Mr. Lukashenko on Friday rejected as untrue talk that "there is no power in Belarus anymore, that the Russians are already running everything" and insisted: "No one, except us, governs Belarus." This was an unusually public admission of the idea that he is so dependent on Moscow that he can only comply with its demands.
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