Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned Ukraine not to try to draw his country into the war, saying any such move would change the conflict "instantly".
Speaking on Thursday, Lukashenko said Ukrainian representatives had recently travelled to Minsk, where he delivered a blunt message for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"I told them bluntly: 'Guys, tell your president: if he thinks he can talk to us like that — and drag us into a war to boot - then he needs to understand that the nature of the war would change instantly,'" Lukashenko said.
He added that Belarus had no wish to fight its neighbour.
"We received a reply: the president and his team understand this. So, let's reach an agreement, guys. We need to reach a substantive agreement."
Kyiv did not immediately respond to his remarks.
The exchange comes as tensions between the two countries continue to rise. Zelenskyy has repeatedly claimed Russia wants Belarus to play a bigger role in the war, accusing Minsk of allowing its territory to support Russian drone attacks.
Last week, the Ukrainian leader threatened to disable signal relay stations in Belarus that he said were helping guide Russian drones. On Wednesday, he said the stations had stopped working, although there was no independent confirmation.
After meeting his foreign intelligence chief, Oleh Luhovskyi, Zelenskyy also accused Belarus of improving roads near the border and expanding fuel and ammunition storage sites.
"Belarus knows what steps are needed on its part for peace," he wrote on Telegram. "The development of border infrastructure for aggression from Belarus must be stopped."
The Kremlin dismissed a report by The Wall Street Journal that Russia was pressuring Belarus to launch more attacks on Ukraine or risk losing financial support.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the report "does not correspond to reality" and described Belarus as "our closest ally".
Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin blamed the West for rising tensions, saying NATO was strengthening forces near Belarus' borders and trying to expand the conflict.
"Today, we are acutely aware of a blatant attempt to drag Belarus into the war," he said.
Although Lukashenko has not sent Belarusian troops into Ukraine, he allowed Russia to use Belarus as a launchpad for its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Belarus also hosts Russian tactical nuclear weapons, carries out regular joint military drills and allows Moscow to use its military bases and training grounds.
Russia also relies on Belarus in other ways. Belarus' two major oil refineries process Russian crude and supply fuel back to Russia, a link that has become more important as Ukrainian strikes have disrupted refineries inside Russia.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has dismissed media reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow ear...
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers Washington will focus on sanctions and other pressure on Iran “for the time bein...
More than half of the Syrian city of Aleppo's ancient markets have now been rebuilt, over a decade after they were reduced to rubble during the...
Oil prices fell after the U.S. expanded economic sanctions on Iran, as Tehran vowed to retaliate and warned it had tools to respond, raising concerns over potential disruption to regional oil supplies.
Rescuers in Nepal used helicopters on Thursday to scour for hundreds still missing after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border with China's Tibet, sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys, killing 162 people.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers Washington will focus on sanctions and other pressure on Iran “for the time being”, Axios reports. Meanwhile, Iran and Oman have resumed talks on a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
Kyiv has recently received a small number of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. It comes as Britain and France pledged stronger military support for Ukraine.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for greater economic cooperation among Muslim countries, saying their combined economic weight remains disproportionately small compared with their population, strategic location and resources.
Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb military commander convicted of genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, has died, according to a United Nations official.
A glacial collapse that triggered catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday has killed at least 270 people, with more than 1,000 still missing. Here are some of the most devastating glacier-related disasters recorded around the world:
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says 3.7 million children across Afghanistan are suffering from acute wasting, a dangerous form of malnutrition, including around one million with severe acute malnutrition, as hospitals and aid services face rising demand and funding shortages.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has dismissed media reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow earlier this week to warn Russia against attacking NATO, dismissing them as "scare stories," which had nothing to do with reality.
Icelanders will vote on Saturday, 29 August, on whether to resume negotiations with the European Union, in a referendum that could reopen the country’s long-debated membership question.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment