Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a huge warning to another country – other than Russia (Image: Getty)
Ukraine has issued a bombshell threat to take military action against Belarus as soon as next weekend in a move that could significantly widen its ongoing war with Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky has given Vladimir Putin’s ally Alexander Lukashenko seven days to dismantle relay equipment on his territory which he alleges helps direct Russian drone strikes to kill and maim Ukrainian people.
The Ukrainian president said: “I think one week will be enough for him to do this. Why do I say one week? Because every day now, our civilians are dying and children are being injured because of this. If he does not do this, we will do it ourselves.” Such a move by Ukraine would threaten to widen the war with Russia already seeking to pull Belarus into the conflict, which Lukashenko has so far resisted.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has been given a seven-day ultimatum by Ukraine (Image: Getty)
“There is equipment on his territory along two regions bordering Ukraine that corrects fire against the Ukrainian population,” said Zelensky.
“We do not have such a strong front there now, where Ukraine and Belarus are. Civilians are being killed there.
“There are relays on the corresponding towers. Can he remove them?”
Lukashenko said he “does not want to be in the war”, said Zelensky.
As well as getting rid of the so called “repeaters”, he called on Lukashenko to halt refined oil supplies to the Russian war machine.
“He is today the main supplier, or one of the main suppliers, for the Russian army,” he said.
Alexander Lukashenko has been accused by Ukraine of aiding Vladimir Putin’s war effort (Image: PAVEL BEDNYAKOV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
“It is Lukashenko. It is Belarus. Can this be stopped? I am convinced that this is within his power. And it is exactly what he controls.”
Belarus has not so far formally entered the war with its own troops, but it has been a key Putin military partner and rear base.
It has allowed Moscow to launch its 2022 invasion from Belarusian territory.
It has also allowed Russia to fire missiles and drones from its soil and airspace, host Russian forces and nuclear weapons, and support Russian logistics, training and military infrastructure.
The dispute came as Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency has said an attack on a Belarus youth sports team bus in Russia’s Bryansk region this week – which killed one woman and wounded seven people – was “a special operation by Russian special services”.
Russia claimed it was a drone strike by Ukraine, but Zelensky insisted it was a false flag operation by Moscow.
“This was not our strike,” said Zelensky. “Everyone has already recognised this, international experts, and it seems to me that the Russians also recognise it, let us say, unofficially.
“The Russians will carry out many different provocations in order to draw the Belarusian people into this war. This is one of those provocations.”
Despite Moscow’s support, Lukashenko has claimed Belarus is “very vulnerable militarily”, and had no desire to enter the war.
“If Ukraine begins to attack Belarus in the same way it is attacking Russia, Belarus will be as exposed to the Ukrainian military as the palm of a hand,” he said.
Russian state news agency TASS said Zelensky had made “another series of threats against Belarus”.
