January 6, Pozirk. Alaksandar Łukašenka apologized for missile strikes on Ukraine from Belarus in 2022 and blamed Vladimir Putin for the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told American podcaster Lex Fridman.
Zelensky said he had a phone conversation with the Belarusian ruler a few days after Russia launched a full-scale war on Ukraine. Łukašenka reportedly warned Ukraine against fighting the Russians back, noting that he was not in charge and Putin was the one launching missiles on Ukraine from Belarus.
“I told him ‘Don’t do that’. ‘This was done without me.’” Zelensky quoted the phone conversation. “I told him ‘You are a murderer, too. . . It’s war. The missiles came from your land, from Belarus. How did you allow this?’ Then he replied ‘All right, retaliate then.’ I still remember him telling me ‘Hit the refinery, you know how much I care about it. Mazyr Oil Refinery, is that it? Can’t recall. Mazyr Oil Refinery. I told him ‘What are you on about, what retaliation?’ ‘Forgive me, Volodya.’”
Łukašenka openly supports Russian aggression against Ukraine. Authorities in Minsk kept claiming peaceful intentions and denied the Belarusian army’s involvement in combat operations but allowed Russian troops to attack Ukraine from Belarus on multiple occasions and supplied arms to the Kremlin.
A 20,000-strong grouping of Russian forces crossed into Ukraine from Belarus at the outset of the war, Łukašenka told journalists in July 2022, while Ukraine estimated their number at some 70,000 troops and 7,000 armored vehicles. Later, the Russian army was forced to retreat from northern Ukraine.
