Владимир Зеленский. Скриншот видео.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again explained what kind of response he expects from Aliaksandr Lukashenka, saying that the Belarusian leader should demonstrate de-escalation through concrete actions. Zelenskyy made the remarks in an interview with TSN Tyzhden.
Reform.news publishes the full translated excerpt of the interview on the subject:
— First of all, I would like people to understand that whenever I do something publicly — and this is, let’s say, part of my strategy — I first take certain de-escalatory steps behind the scenes. Through intelligence and military channels, Belarus, at the leadership level, received information: stop helping the Russians. The issue of the relay stations is not something that emerged yesterday — it has been going on for a long time. The victims have been exclusively on Ukraine’s side. Technically, these systems are coordinated and technically assist in carrying out more accurate strikes by Russian and Iranian drones against Ukrainian society. That is what is happening.
Lukashenka received this information. Beyond words, he must demonstrate de-escalation. It is not enough to say, “I apologize.” He can keep his apologies to himself. That stopped working after the first day of the war.
I explained this through our intelligence services, the Security Service, and so on. We have contacts at different levels. I explained to him that what is needed is a demonstration of concrete steps.
Step number one: no technical support. Direct support through relay stations — switch them off, dismantle them, and show us that they have been removed. Then the issue is closed. This has been communicated to them repeatedly, many times.
We have now moved to the stage of a public signal. This means that if he does not remove them, we will. Whatever happens in a week, either they will do it or we will.
— So far there has been no reaction to this public statement?
— I have no information about any reaction.
— I thought perhaps they had conveyed something unofficially?
— To be honest, their unofficial words are of little interest to me. We all understand what is meant. We are also sending another signal: please stop supplying fuel to the Russian army.
It should be recalled that on June 19 the Ukrainian president gave Aliaksandr Lukashenka one week to disconnect relay stations allegedly used by Russian drones.
“Can he remove them? Why talk about not wanting war? Let him remove this equipment, let him switch it off. I think one week will be enough for him to do that. Why do I say one week? Because every day our civilians are being killed because of this, and children are being wounded. If he does not do it, we will,” Zelenskyy said during a joint press conference with Honduran President Nasry Asfura in Kyiv on Friday.