Lukashenko: Putin did not intend and is not going to occupy Ukraine
Vladimir Putin did not plan and is not going to occupy Ukraine – as stated with confidence by the Belarusian leader, Aleksandr Lukashenko, during his talk with The Associated Press, BelTA reports
“To be honest, I did not think this conflict would last for so long. Vladimir Putin named it a special military operation, and he did not declare war. This is because he and the military had no goal to occupy Ukraine and bring it to its knees," the Head of State noted. “I will tell you more. After the first conflict – remember, after the Crimea, the first clash, Lugansk, Donetsk and so on, Russia was not really involved in this conflict; but nothing happened then. Putin was proposed – as I witnessed that – to go to Transdniestria from Donetsk and capture the whole south of Ukraine, to cut it off from the sea; this is what they are fighting for now. Putin said no, noting he could not agree to that. He had then many supporters to avoid this escalation. He could easily do that in 2015 or in 2014. I was a witness to this.”
“He was not going and is not going to occupy Ukraine and bring it to its knees this time as well. One of the reasons [for the operation] is to avoid a split of Ukraine – so that there will be no Americans, Poles, Romanians and others in its separate parts. He does not want that. He wants to see friendly, integral Ukraine, and I fully support him. This is my position as well. However, this should be a country that does not create problems for its neighbours. That is the purpose of this operation," the Head of State expressed his opinion.
“Therefore, to be honest, I did not think that this operation would last for so long,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “However, I am not immersed in this problem enough to say whether it goes according to plan, like the Russians say, or like I feel it. I want to emphasise one more time: I feel like this operation has dragged on. But this is my point of view, based on the facts that I have at my disposal.”
“But I want to stress another time: I am not immersed in the details to answer the question whether they go according to plan or not,” the President noted.
