Ukraine's Ambassador to Belarus responds to Lukashenko's "peace propositions"
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Belarus Ihor Kyzym responded to Alexander Lukashenko’s "peace propositions" for Ukraine, saying that he does not understand why Minsk got involved in Russia’s war against Ukraine and how Lukashenko’s administration still fails to grasp what is going on.
Source: Ihor Kyzym on Facebook
Details: Kyzym said that Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of the Republic of Belarus, failed to offer any rational explanations as to why Belarus got involved in Russia’s war against Ukraine in his statement.
"What did Ukraine and its people do to harm Belarusians and the Belarusian leadership, which has for some reason decided that it knew what was ‘better’ for Ukrainians, and supported the Russian Federation? [What did Ukraine do to] Belarusians and the sovereign state of Belarus? Because Russia’s agenda, which the Belarusian leadership has defended for several years, is evident here," the Ukrainian Ambassador said.
He rejected the claims that Ukraine initiated hostility by introducing sanctions [against Belarus]. "The first package of sanctions was only introduced in November 2022 (and expanded in January 2023). This was done in retaliation for [Belarus’s] assistance with the Russian forces’ invasion and with conducting missile and air strikes on the territory of Ukraine from the territory of Belarus," Kyzym wrote.
He explained that the volume of trade between Ukraine and Belarus was growing in the post-Covid year of 2021. However, Belarus has effectively lost the Ukrainian market after Belarus has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
Kyzym said that since Belarus joined the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine in a hybrid manner, it has lost the right to act as a mediator for negotiations, even though it was one of Lukashenko’s strongest assets before 24 February 2022.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Belarus also pointed out contradictions in the logic of Lukashenko’s argument: on the one hand, Lukashenko promised a "harsh response" to any aggression against Belarus; on the other, he said he believed that Ukraine, the victim of the Russian aggression, must agree to concede some of its territory and refuse the support of its partners.
"Ukrainian people want peace more than anyone else. But unlike the Russian invaders, we are fighting to liberate our own, temporarily occupied, territories. We know what we are fighting for and how to win this war. This is what motivates our soldiers. Meanwhile, the Russians [are motivated by] conquering someone else’s land, destroying everything that is Ukrainian, torturing and killing civilians, looting and other crimes comparable to the crimes committed by Nazis during World War II. It is surprising that the Belarusian military-political leadership refuses to see this obvious truth and decide whose side it is on even a year after the so-called ‘special military operation’ began," Kyzym stressed.
He added that there is already a peace plan, Ukraine’s Peace Formula, which President Zelenskyy presented back in autumn 2022.
Background:
- In his address to the Belarusian people and parliament on 31 March, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, proposed that Ukraine and Russia agree to a ceasefire and said that Ukraine’s expected counter-offensive was "extremely dangerous".
- Lukashenko also spoke about the possibility that Russian strategic nuclear weapons would be deployed in Belarus.
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