MINSK, 25 February (BelTA) – If the West continues to "help" Ukraine they way they are doing now, then its days are numbered, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he talked to the media after voting in the elections of deputies of the House of Representatives and local councils of deputies, BelTA has learned.
The head of state was asked about the prospects for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine and the emergence of new reasons for this. "There are more than enough reasons. You see how the events are developing for Ukraine. They are developing badly," the president said. It is not only about Avdeyevka, he noted."Everything with Avdeyevka would have been resolved long ago if the Russians had fought like in the Patriotic War by throwing in hundreds of thousands of people, disregarding the casualties. I know firsthand that the Russian military and President Putin workvery carefully," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. "He always tells me: 'I feel sorry for people. They could have done it faster, but a lot of people would have died." It's not about Avdeyevka or other places, it's about avoiding casualties."
"I see that the Russians are very serious about a peaceful settlement of this conflict, especially now. They don't want to throw people into hell," the president emphasized.
However, the opposing side, Ukraine and its allies, believes that since they are "big" and have a large GDP, they cannot lose the war, Aleksandr Lukashenko said. "Although this is not the way to assess the situation. You do not make the assessments using these indicators but the determination of the people, the availability of material resources and reserves," the head of state said. “Who has more? Russia does. They have resources under their feet. America and Europe have euros and dollars that they print. But it's all going to collapse. It's paper. Meanwhile Russia has its military-industrial complex running full steam. They produce a huge number of weapons."
In this regard, NATO should think about how Russia will then use the huge amount of the most advanced ammunition and other weapons that it is producing now, the Belarusian leader noted. "They should use their head. Stop now. It is possible to come to an agreement. Denazification, demilitarization and so on are just terms. Everything is decided at the negotiating table. This is still politics. But if the West continues to ‘help’ Ukraine the way they are doing now, then Ukraine's days are numbered. Vladimir Zelensky should understand this as the ABC," the head of state emphasized.
According to him, the Ukrainian military understand this. Moreover, they see how many troops are dying: "They throw untrained people into this slaughter. People understand that this is a one-way ticket. There are manyreports of this kind."
If Ukrainians do not come to terms with Russia now, they will completely lose Ukraine," the president of Belarus said. “As soon as the front collapse or Ukrainian soldiers simply stop fighting, the Poles will seize the western part of Ukraine (which is unacceptable to us, we will be on the side of the Ukrainians on this), and Russia will take the southern part to Transnistria. What will be left of Ukraine? Kiev?”
Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that it is important to start negotiations now in order to save Ukraine. "And then... This has already been said. Many people know (in the West too) that the Russians agreed to let future generations decide on the future of the eastern lands. They would hold a referendum and decide whether they want to live in Ukraine or Russia,” the head of state said. “Crimea is Crimea. It is Russia's land, Russia's territory, so the Russians believe. The West agrees with that, too."
According to the president, there are a lot of reasons for negotiations now and it is important to move toward them.