On 13 January 1706 the Swedish army coming from Poland crossed the Neman River and squeezed out the Russian cavalry units of Menshikov towards Minsk, cutting of all connections to Russia for the Grodno garrison.

Meanwhile, the Russian garrison of Grodno suffered big trouble from the lack of food as well as from diseases.

After the blockade of his main troops in Grodno Peter the Great had only 12,000 men in Belarus.

Being in Minsk with this army he communicated with the besieged garrison via a poruchik named Yakovlev who made his way to Grodno dressed as a Polish peasant.

However, they proved to be impassable and Charles had to give up the pursuit of the Russians and to seek a battle with the Saxons first.