Lukashenko reveals Belarus’s role in Russia’s war against Ukraine
UKRAINSKA PRAVDA – THURSDAY, 21 JULY 2022, 20:29
Alexander Lukashenko, self-proclaimed President of Belarus, has confirmed that Belarus is helping Russia in its aggression against Ukraine.
Source: Lukashenko’s interview with Agence France-Presse, cited by the Belarusian news agency BelTA
Details: Lukashenko claims that Belarus "is not fighting in the war in Ukraine with either hardware or manpower". He admitted that strikes on Ukrainian military facilities have been launched from Belarusian territory, but this was supposedly done "for preventative purposes".
Quote: "Why did they [the Ukrainians] deploy four divisions on the border? Why did they target us? Are you saying that I had to sit and wait until missiles began to fall on the heads of the Belarusian people? No, I did not.
I support Russia because it preempted you. If the Russian military had missed this moment, Russia would have been forced to face a massive blow from NATO, not from Ukraine. It’s not Ukraine that is fighting right now, it’s you who are fighting: your soldiers and your weapons. You’re more of an aggressor than I am.
We’re still saying: yes, we’re involved in the operation. But how? We’ve closed the West and Southwest of Belarus so that you don’t stab the Russians in the back from there. That’s our involvement. We treated the wounded, we admitted the dead into Belarusian territory. We have given medicines to both Ukrainians and Russians. We still do. This is what our involvement in this operation is about. We do not kill people."
Background:
- Lukashenko has been claiming since the beginning of the war that "Ukraine was preparing to attack the joint military forces of Russia and Belarus on Belarusian territory."
- In June Russian planes launched a missile attack on the territory of Zhytomyr Oblast from the territory of Belarus.
