Lukashenko Predicts Nuclear “Abyss” if Ukraine War Doesn’t End – Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, warned that unless a peace deal is agreed upon between Ukraine and Russia there will be a nuclear “abyss.”
Speaking to the AFP news agency on Thursday, the Belarusian dictator said that Moscow, Kyiv, and NATO countries must agree to bring the war to an end to avoid a potential nuclear conflict.
“We must stop, reach an agreement, end this mess, operation and war in Ukraine,” Lukashenko said. “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.”
Lukashenko has long supported peace in Ukraine while at the same time facilitating the conflict. Since the early days of the conflict, Lukashenko has allowed the Russian military to use Belarusian territory to deploy troops and initiate military assaults against Ukraine. However, the Belarusian leader stopped short of providing direct military assistance in the form of troop deployment.
Lukashenko also offered to host peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in 2014 during the conflict over Crimea. At the time, the dictator endorsed Putin’s actions – as he did earlier this year – while also calling for Ukraine to work with Russia to bring the conflict to an end.
Lukashenko Has Said This Before
It’s not the first time that Lukashenko told the international press that the war should come to an end. Speaking to the Associated Press in May, Lukashenko said that the war had gone on for too long.
“I am not immersed in this problem enough to say whether it goes according to plan, like the. Russians say, or like I feel it,” he told AP. “I want to stress one more time: I feel like this operation has dragged on.”
Lukashenko’s comments risk angering the Russian president, who is currently working to forge new ties with friendly foreign governments, including the Taliban. At the same time, Lukashenko’s comments are not fundamentally at odds with statements from the Russian president.
Vladimir Putin has said on multiple occasions that Russia is willing to bring the war to an end. In March, Putin said the so-called “special military operation” would immediately come to an end if Ukraine agreed to four conditions. This week, however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that Russia’s military aims in Ukraine have broadened, and that the. Russian military will begin to focus its efforts outside of the eastern Donbas region.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
