Ukraine war: Wagner near Polish border, EU mulls defence fund, Russia attacks grain facilities

Fighters from the Wagner mercenary group are training with Belarus's special forces, Minsk announced on Thursday.

They will "train for combat missions at the Bretsky training ground, less than 5km from the border with Poland, the Belarusian Ministry of Defence wrote on Telegram.

The "first photos" of these training exercises were published by the ministry, which explained that "in the current geopolitical situation, the real combat experience (of Wagner) is an opportunity... to develop" Belarus's army. 

Last week, Minsk announced Wagner fighters were training Belarusian conscripts, at a training ground southeast of the capital. 

The Polish Ministry of Defense told reporters on Thursday it had "strengthened the cooperation of the army with the border guards through, among other things, an intensification of joint operations at the border".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was paying "increased attention" to Polish military movements, since Warsaw's "aggressiveness towards Belarus and the Russian Federation is a reality".

The European Union is considering creating a 20 billion euro fund to support the Ukrainian army over the next four years, diplomatic sources said on Thursday.

"We will discuss how to continue to support Ukraine in the long term, what security commitments and guarantees we can provide," EU foreign minister Josep Borrell said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

"We have presented a plan to guarantee financial support to Ukraine from next year, which will represent a fairly large amount. I hope that the ministers will support it", he added, without wanting to specify a figure before it is examined by the 27 EU members. 

Some member states, notably Hungary, could oppose the initiative. 

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