Lukashenko says he will not join the fighting in Ukraine: Belarus does not need any war – Novy Čas

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko declared on Friday that his country does not plan to get involved in the conflict in Ukraine. According to him, Belarus does not need any war, reported the AFP agency, which is referred to by TASR. “We are not going anywhere. We have no war here today. And we don’t even need one,” Lukashenko declared during an inspection of Belarusian-made drones at a military center in the west of the country. According to him, Belarus is ready to sell its drones to “anyone who wants to buy them”, but has no intention of sending them to Ukraine. “It would not be desirable for them to be used in Ukraine. After all, the Ukrainians are actually ours,” said Lukashenko, whose regime depends on political and financial support from the Kremlin. In February, Lukashenko allowed Belarus to become one of the starting points for a massive Russian invasion of Ukraine. Recently, large numbers of Russian soldiers and equipment began to gather in Belarus again, which raised concerns about the possible opening of a new front against Ukraine. Alexander Lukashenko recently accused Ukraine of preparing an attack against Belarus and announced the creation of a joint Belarusian-Russian combat group, which will consist of approximately 85,000 soldiers. The Ukrainian army warned on Friday that if Belarus directly joins the war, it will respond accordingly. The British secret services believe that the deployment of Russian troops in Belarus is actually just an effort to divert attention. Apparently, the Kremlin only wants to achieve that Ukraine moves part of its troops to protect its borders with Belarus, which will then be absent from other sections of the front.