Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russia, Ukraine, and Kyiv’s Western backers must agree to end the war in Ukraine to avoid the “abyss” of nuclear war.
“We must stop, reach an agreement, end this mess, operation and war in Ukraine,” Lukashenko told AFP. “Let’s stop and then we will figure out how to go on living … There’s no need to go further. Further lies the abyss of nuclear war. There’s no need to go there.”
Russian officials have ruled out using nuclear weapons in Ukraine and said they would only use such arms if there was an “existential” threat to Russia. But the massive amount of military assistance the US and its NATO allies are providing Ukraine in the war risks a direct conflict between the US and Russia, which could quickly turn nuclear.
There are no signs that the war will end anytime soon as Ukraine maintains it will drive Russia out of all the territory it captured, and Moscow has said it now has expanded its war aims outside of the Donbas region. The Western support for Ukraine also shows no sign of waning as President Biden recently declared the US will support Ukraine “as long as it takes” to see Russia defeated.
Peace talks between the warring sides have stalled since April, and Lukashenko said it was up to the Ukrainian side to negotiate. “Everything depends on Ukraine,” he said. The Belarusian leader said Ukrainian officials should “sit down at the negotiating table and agree that they will never threaten Russia.”
Lukashenko allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine from Belarusian territory during the initial phase of the war. Lukashenko grew closer to Putin since the August 2020 election in Belarus that saw him win another term. The US and the EU rejected the results of the election, added sanctions on Belarus, and threw support behind Lukashenko’s opposition.
While Belarus hasn’t directly entered the fighting, Minsk has been targeted with the same Western sanctions being implemented on Russia, drawing the two nations even closer together. Lukashenko blamed the war in Ukraine on the US and NATO, accusing the West of “fomenting” the conflict.
Wow, agreeing with Lukashenko and Henry Kissinger. My mind is spinning.
Ya, Henry even said we should back off of our nastiness towards China. Must be nearing death and he’s hedging his bets.
Former colonial powers want to attack Russia, China and Iran. Five-eyes English speaking countries are the worst among noticeably corporatist totalitarian states. They have turned into cannibal war mongers eating their own national societies and using hatred war propaganda to keep people diverted. Legal functions have become internal criminal corruptions of law used to fund the elites and war. Unions are undermined by cheap corporate prison slave labor. High paid union bureaucracies are loyal to their paycheck and work for management against labor in order to maintain their cash cows. Schools, hospital staff and infrastructure maintenance are underfunded. Western elites beat the war drums to hold power and are so uneducated they cannot see recruiting from their own resisting populations dooms them to a fate that can easily turn too ugly for militarized police to handle; internal war against their own people. Armies and the funding of armies will be one hundred percent needed to to maintain elites and their country club luncheons. Nations facing the former colonial powers need to be patient and hold on just a little longer.
Agreed. Every word. Pretty rare to hear someone who grasps the totality of it without falling to some lame partisan nonsense. Check you out some Chris Hedges if you haven’t already. He gets it too…
Thank you. Now we need to develop a new way of walking that is non threatening and under the radar.
Why do these so-called autocratic leaders always sound so much more levelheaded than our democratic leaders?
Oh aren’t they cute?
Well, those so called autocratic leaders and dictators don’t need to back up their words. They can say one thing today then turn around and do something completely different without fear of any domestic backlash just like Putin’s beautiful speech about the West fabricated Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
If you like them so much, you can move to Belarus or Russia. Great countries with beautiful people. But dont expect to enjoy your daily blogging adventures unless it’s praising your supreme leader
“Well, those so called autocratic leaders and dictators don’t need to back up their words.”
These are his words:
“We must stop, reach an agreement”
Then let’s prove him wrong. Stop, sit down to diplomacy and when Russia doesn’t show up, we can call him on his lies. But the only problem here is that he’s talking to deaf ears. It’s the other side (US/NATO) that doesn’t want to “stop, reach an agreement” but instead they want to continue to use Ukraine to the last dead Ukrainian to destroy Russia and haven’t been shy about admitting to that. Kind of like you.
“If you like them so much, you can move to Belarus or Russia”
Always got to include something from the manual. You never disappoint.
Point noted. But there will be no compromise as Russia wants it all. How can you reach a diplomatic agreement when the outcome means you are another Belarus? Ukrainians will rather go out fighting than surrender their land. They’ll fight with or without Zelensky and/or support from US/UK/NATO.
Full circle. Back to Russia wants it all. You’re also again ignoring Zelensky’s campaign promises and the land you speak of was out of Ukrainian control before the invasion. Their stupidity will cost them even more land before it’s over. And you talk out of your ass if you think Ukraine will fight on without outside help. Reality will set in eventually and they’ll realize that they have been duped into being a tool for the US and NATO. Actually, they already know it but there is money to be made by a select few. Unfortunately, their plight will be much worse than if they had become “another Belarus.” But keep talking tough and ignore reality until they are all dead.
What land lol…Ukraine will become Russian property from now on since the ruling regime is unable to govern with any sanity. This is not Russia’s fault…Russia should remove the terrorist regime destroying Ukraine from the inside, and they will. The US has shown itself to be weak and feckless with its hands off support. The West is gasping for air because politicians are mendacious and greedy…