Lukashenko: Ukraine must start peace talks with Russia or face full destruction
The self-proclaimed president of of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should stop and agree to peace talks with Russia if he wants to avoid huge casualties and the complete destruction of Ukraine.
After the meeting, Lukashenka told reporters that the leaders of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) member countries "casually" touched upon the topic of the war in Ukraine.
"Everything is in the hands of Ukraine. Not because I want to shift this topic to Zelensky and Ukraine. Indeed, everything is now in the hands of Ukraine if they don't want people to die, and in huge numbers. It's hard, it's hard, it's hard, but we need to stop, we need to stop it, because then there will be the complete destruction of Ukraine. It's not that Putin once said long before the "operation" that it would lead to the loss of [Ukraine’s] statehood– it would be the destruction of Ukraine. We need to stop," said Lukashenko on the sidelines of the CSTO summit, held on November 23 in the Armenian capital Yerevan.
According to Lukashenko, 30 million people died during the Second World War, but now "no one remembers it," and "we are ready not just to talk, but even to cooperate and be friends" with Germany.
Lukashenko concluded that it would eventually be possible to negotiate with the Ukrainians.
"It's the same here. We will cope, we will make amends for all this. We will probably be able to explain, even now to our generation, to the Ukrainian people what happened," Lukashenko said.
On November 23, Russia launched 67 air- and sea-based cruise missiles on Ukraine. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 51 missiles, as well as five Lancet kamikaze drones. 30 missiles were fired at Kyiv alone, 20 of which were destroyed by air defense.
International politicians have responded strongly to a new series of missile strikes on Ukraine, calling on the Kremlin to immediately stop terrorizing and killing Ukrainians.