Russia sends first of 9,000 soldiers to Belarus for new joint force

Russia has sent the first soldiers to Belarus as part of a new joint force aimed at protecting the border with Ukraine, according to the country's Defence Ministry.

"The first trains carrying Russian soldiers ... have arrived in Belarus," Russian state news agency Tass quoted a Defence Ministry spokesperson in Minsk as saying on Sunday.

"The transfer will take several days. The total number will be slightly less than 9,000 people," the spokesperson said. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko announced plans for the joint regional force on Monday.

Russia has already been using Belarus as a deployment area for its invasion of Ukraine and also been launching air strikes on Ukrainian targets from there.

Military observers have so far considered it unlikely that Belarus itself will intervene in the war, as such a step could undermine Lukashenko's already unstable position of power.

On the other hand, a Russian-Belarusian deployment from the border would tie up Ukrainian forces in the east and south of the country.

Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine reported on Sunday that the Ukrainian army had shelled the city of Donetsk.

According to Russian state news agency TASS, Mayor Alexey Kulemzin said that an administrative building had been heavily damaged, windows had been shattered and cars had caught fire.

"Miraculously, no one died," Kulemzin was quoted as saying. The information could not be independently verified. The industrial city of Donetsk has been under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

The Moscow-backed forces blamed the Ukrainian army for 40 attacks on targets in the Russia-recognized "Donetsk People's Republic" within 24 hours. One civilian was killed and four others were injured, they said.

Russian officials also said they had repelled the advance of Ukrainian troops in some regions and destroyed several ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army.

Three US M777 howitzers were among the targets to be hit in the Kharkiv region, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, said on Sunday, according to Russian news agencies.

Konashenkov said the attacks caused significant losses for Ukraine and were part of continued attacks against military targets and energy supplies.

Ukrainian troops have been progressively regaining grounding in the country's south and east in recent weeks.

Speaking in an interview with German newspaper FAZ, Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of United States Army Europe, said the liberation of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula was possible by the summer of next year.

"When I look at the situation, I see that the situation of the Russians is getting worse with every week. They say war is a test of will and logistics - and on both counts Ukraine is far superior," the former commander told the FAZ newspaper.

But Russia insisted it was sticking to its war aims despite the fact that the situation has been made more difficult by Western support for Ukraine.

NATO is already a "de facto" part of the conflict, but this will not influence Russia's goals, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency.

Meanwhile, at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant occupied by Russian troops, the situation is worsening with each passing week, according to the head of Ukraine's nuclear authority.

Russian occupiers have damaged the administration building, a training centre and a part of the nuclear power plant, Petro Kotin told German public broadcaster ZDF.

"At the moment they are trying to pressure staff to sign work contracts with Russia," Kotin said. "The staff have the choice of either signing this contract or being beaten or tortured."

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi has been trying to get a safe zone established around the nuclear plant where there would be no fighting.