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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko once suggested Ukraine could strike the Mozyr oil refinery after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
In an interview with the Belarusian independent outlet Zerkalo, Zelenskyy said Lukashenko told him by phone that he did not control the situation when Russian troops attacked Ukraine from Belarusian territory.
“He told me: if you want, you can respond — strike Mozyr and the refinery,” Zelenskyy said.
According to the Ukrainian president, Kyiv considered the possibility, and many in his team supported responding. However, he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin was hoping for exactly that scenario.
Zelenskyy said Moscow wanted Belarus to become more directly involved in the war in order to stretch Ukrainian forces and expand the front line. If Belarusian troops had entered Ukraine, Kyiv would have had to redeploy forces from the eastern front.
He also noted that Minsk may be hoping to improve relations with the United States, but warned that continuing to get drawn into the war would not help Lukashenko.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, including from Belarusian territory, where Russian forces had been deployed during the “Zapad-2021” military exercises.
