The Belarusian government says it has increased its deployment of armed forces at the country’s border with Ukraine in response to Western countries "building their military presence" in the region.

The chief of the general staff of the armed forces, Viktor Gulevich, alleged Ukraine had sent around 20,000 people close to the Belarus border before going on to say the move required a “response."

In a statement on Telegram, he said that a Western alliance of forces “created over the past six months has more than doubled both in quantity and quality.”