MINSK, 26 January (BelTA) - Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko refuted Vladimir Zelensky's claim that he proposed Ukraine to strike at Mozyr Oil Refinery in the first days of the special military operation as he talked to the media in Minsk on 26 January, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled one of Zelensky's recent claims that he wanted peace, while the Belarusian president suggested Ukraine strike at Mozyr Oil Refinery. “Look, when I heard that, I felt sick. For me, suggesting striking the oil refinery is absolutely unacceptable. The refinery in Mozyr is the best in the world, recently upgraded which cost us dear. I swear to you that did not happen,” the president noted. “Why are you saying such things? You're a bad showman. You're not even Trump. You are lying," the Belarusian leader stressed.
Aleksandr Lukashenko explained that this would have backfired on him: "I would have had to respond. That would have dragged Belarus into war."
“As for peace in Ukraine, this is not a question for me. You have known my policy and position for a long time. We hosted three rounds of peace talks immediately after the conflict, the special military operation, started. If I had shared with you all the details or who organized these first rounds, you would have been astounded. The Ukrainians, Zelensky were larger than life itself. For example, we agreed to start the first meeting in Gomel at, say, 11:00 in the morning. They arrived by midnight. Frankly speaking, I was persuading the Russians not to leave saying: “Guys, they will hold this against us later and say we did not want to negotiate,” the president said.
According to him, things were like this all the time. Then the Ukrainian side chose Belovezhskaya Pushcha as the negotiating site, to be farther away from the border with Russia. This request was satisfied too. Then, after three rounds of peace talks in Belarus, the negotiations were moved to Istanbul. “They are welcome to go wherever they want. To Kazakhstan, Istanbul... The main point is not to stop the negotiations. People are dying! Even then it was clear how many people would die,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
