Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday his country will not get drawn into the war in Ukraine, but warned it would defend itself alongside Russia in the event of aggression, according to Belarusian state news agency BELTA.
The Belarusian leader also said he was ready to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Zelensky, who has repeatedly suggested that Minsk could become more involved in the conflict.
Alexander Lukashenko was speaking during joint military exercises with Russia. The two directors attended the rehearsals by video conference.
“Regarding (Volodimir Zelensky’s) statements that Belarus will be drawn into war, as I said, this will happen in only one case: if aggression is committed on our territory,” he said, quoted by BELTA.
Volodimir Zelensky met Ukrainian leaders on Thursday in northern Ukraine, near the Belarusian border, to discuss strengthening the country’s defenses.
In his speech, the Ukrainian president declared that Russia “was ready to drag Belarus deeper into this war.”
(Version française Zhifan Liu)
