Europe’s longest-serving president noted that the conflict could threaten not only the loss of statehood but also the complete destruction of Ukraine. The four-time elected leader of Belarus called for negotiations and pointed out that over time, relations between the peoples of Russia and Ukraine will be restored.

To end the conflict, the parties need to urgently start negotiations, otherwise, it threatens the complete destruction of Ukraine, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

‘Everything is now in the hands of Ukraine. If they don’t want to die, they have to stop. We must stop this because further will be the complete destruction of Ukraine. 

‘It’s not that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin said long before the operation that it would threaten the loss of Ukraine’s statehood. This will be the destruction of Ukraine! We have to stop,’ he said.

At the same time, according to Lukashenko, over time, relations between the peoples of Russia and Ukraine will certainly be restored, as was the case, among other things, in the history of the peoples of the USSR and Germany after World War II. 

‘How did we fight Germany? 30 million died. Who remembers this today? In Belarus and Russia, a little, and that’s it? That is, the wounds healed, ‘the head of Belarus pointed out.

After the start of the special operation, Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of negotiations in person and online, but by the beginning of the summer, contacts had almost ceased. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, after the annexation of four regions to Russia at the end of September, completely abandoned the negotiations, while Vladimir Putin remains the president of Russia. Later, he said that he was ready to offer a ‘public form of negotiations.’

The Russian authorities regularly call on Ukraine to resume dialogue, noting that Kyiv shows no reciprocal desire. 

’How is it possible to discuss any agreements if there is not even a desire on the other side to talk to us? Let’s wait. Maybe some necessary conditions will ripen; our goodwill is known, it is not subject to any changes or doubts,’ Putin said in October.  At the same time, the Foreign Ministry emphasized that Moscow agreed to dialogue without preconditions.

Kyiv calls the conditions for negotiations the restoration of territorial integrity and compensation for losses. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities reject the possibility of concluding new Minsk agreements. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Ukraine’s conditions ‘unrealistic.’