Reuters. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko recently met with Ukraine's representatives and told them that Belarus would not get involved in their conflict with Russia. Lukashenko made the remarks on Thursday (June 25) at a meeting with Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov.
"Representatives of (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy were here at this very place recently. I told them directly: ‘Guys, pass this on to your President: if he thinks that it is possible to talk to us like this and even try to drag us into a war, he must understand that the nature of the war would change instantly," Lukashenko said.
Russia on Thursday (June 25) denied exerting pressure on Belarus to support an expansion of the war in Ukraine, while Belarus said it was the West that was trying to drag it into the conflict.
The former Soviet state is strategically important to all sides, being closely allied to Moscow and sharing borders with Russia, Ukraine and three NATO states.
With Moscow's forces struggling to advance and Ukraine raining drones on targets far inside Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said repeatedly that he believes Moscow wants to get Belarus more involved on the Russian side.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday (June 24) that Russia wanted to use Belarus as a springboard to step up attacks on Ukraine, and that Moscow was threatening to cut financial support if it did not agree.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the report "does not correspond to reality" and that Belarus was "our closest ally."
Last Friday (June 19) , Zelenskiy said that signal relay stations in Belarus were being used to guide Russian drone attacks on Ukraine. He gave Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a week to remove them, adding: "If he doesn't do it, we'll do it."
On Wednesday (June 24), Zelenskiy said the stations had stopped working.
Reuters could not independently verify his assessment. Peskov said he had no information on the issue.
