Illustration photo – Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Minsk – Belarus will join the fighting in Ukraine alongside the Russians so far only if it is itself attacked, said Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. According to him, the response to any aggression against Belarus will be harsh, the Belarusian state agency Belta reported.
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Belarus, which is Russia's closest ally, did not send its soldiers to the war against Ukraine, but provided Moscow with its territory and airport to attack the neighboring country. In the initial phase of the invasion, Russian troops led the offensive on Kiev from there. Ukraine fears that Belarus could join the war on the side of Russia even more intensively.
“I am ready to fight together with the Russians from the territory of Belarus in only one case so far: if a single soldier comes from there (from Ukraine) killing my people,” Lukashenko told reporters. “If they commit aggression against Belarus, a harsh response will follow,” he added. According to him, this applies not only to Ukraine, but to all of Belarus' neighbors.
At the same time, the Belarusian leader denied rumors about the planned mobilization in the country. According to him, Belarusians can “live completely peacefully” in this matter. “If we feel the threat of war, we will mobilize. There is no such threat yet,” Lukashenko said.
Lukashenko said in January, without elaborating, that Kyiv had offered Minsk a non-aggression pact. In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi assured that Ukraine was not going to attack the neighboring country, nor is it going to attack.
