Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday that if Kyiv’s army attacked his country, ‘only’ then Belarus would join the offensive in Ukraine.
While speaking to foreign journalists in Minsk, the Belarusian leader said, “I’m ready to fight together with the Russians from the territory of Belarus in one case only: if so much as one soldier from (Ukraine) comes to our territory with a gun to kill my people.”
Lukasheno added, “This applies to our other neighbors,” if they commit an aggression against Belarus, our response will be the most cruel. The most cruel!”
Russia using Belarus as launching pad for Ukraine offensive
Minsk given Kremlin the greenlight to use Belarus as a launching pad for its military action against Kyiv in February 2022.
An undeclared number of Russian soldiers are still hosted by Belarus, however, President Lukashenko his forces over the country’s southern border to Ukraine. The country’s forces number between 60,000 and 70,000.
Even though Lukashenko has repeated promises, fears have been growing that his troops could also join the fight.
Last month, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin he backed the idea to establish joint military training centers with Belarus.
Prior to Putin’s announcement, in October Belarus formed of a joint regional force with Moscow, and a few thousand Russian servicemen arrived in nation that once part of the erstwhile Soviet Union.
During his chat with the foreign journalists, Lukashenko added that he would meet Putin on Friday (February 17).
