West in favor of prolonged war in Ukraine: Belarus' president
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says the United States and its NATO allies are in favor of a prolonged conflict in Ukraine in a bid to drown Russia and Belarus in the war.
Speaking at a ceremony on Friday, Lukashenko said that the West did not “need peace at all.”
“All of them keep shouting about ending war in Ukraine. In public,” he said. “But what they need there is war, the more of it, the better. In order to drown Russia and us, too, in that war,” said the president.
Lukashenko said that the West would not “let Ukraine make a move” to end the war.
The Belarusian president, however, said Mink and Moscow “are not going to succumb to their lecturing,” which he described as an “empty talk.”
Belarus, Ukraine’s northern neighbor, has been a strategic ally of Russia.
Tensions have heightened between the West and Russia after President Vladimir Putin ordered a military offensive in Ukraine more than a week ago.
Ever since, the West has kept pouring lethal weapons into Ukraine. About 20 countries — most members of NATO and the European Union (EU) — are funneling arms into Ukraine to fight off Russia. Russia has denounced the move as a dangerous intervention, which risks further conflict in the region.
At the same time, NATO is moving military equipment and as many as 22,000 more troops into member states bordering Russia and Belarus.
The US and its NATO allies have also imposed harsh sanctions on Russia, including on President Vladimir Putin and his senior ministers and aides.
Washington imposed sanctions on Belarus for "enabling Putin's invasion of Ukraine." The White House on Wednesday banned the export of key technologies to Belarus and also restricted the export of oil and gas extraction equipment to Russia.
Russia, Ukraine agree on humanitarian corridors
Meanwhile, the second round of talks between Ukraine and Russia are underway in Belarus to set up humanitarian corridors in Ukraine. During the talks on Friday, Ukraine and Russia agreed to create humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from unspecified locations.
A third round of talks is expected to take place next week.
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