President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that the Group of Seven (G7) countries deploy an international monitoring mission on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border to debunk Russian provocation and fakes about Ukraine's alleged plans to launch military action against Belarus.
"To completely remove this provocation, to remove these narratives coming from Lukashenka, we offer our solution: a mission of international observers can be deployed on the border of Ukraine and Belarus to monitor the security situation. The format can be developed by our diplomats. I ask you at the G7 level to support this initiative," Zelenskyy said in a speech at the G7 forum.
He recalled that Belarus is already an indirect participant in the war, but Russia wants to directly involve it in hostilities. Ukraine, for its part, has never planned hostilities against Belarus.
"I want to draw your attention to one country. The territory of Belarus is already being used for strikes on Ukraine. And now we see a greater threat. Russia is trying to directly involve Belarus in this war, playing an act of provocation by saying that we are allegedly preparing a strike on this country. Indirectly - it has already drawn them in. And it wants to involve them directly," Zelenskyy said.
He argued that Ukrainians are only interested in the restoration of their country's territorial integrity.
Yesterday, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who considers himself the president of Belarus, and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to deploy a "joint regional group of troops".
Belarus has not been a direct participant in Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, but it has been providing logistical support to the Russian invasion. Missiles are launched from the territory of Belarus at Ukrainian cities. Russia also uses the Belarusian territory to send its sabotage and reconnaissance groups to Ukraine.
Lukashenka repeatedly claimed that Ukraine was "preparing a strike" on Belarus to justify his assistance to the Russian army during the invasion. On 6 October, air strikes were launched from the territory of Belarus against Ukraine for the first time since the end of August.
On 4 October, Lukashenka confirmed that Belarus was helping Russia in the war against Ukrainians.
During the massive attack on Ukraine on 10 October, Russia's Iranian-made kamikaze drones took off from Belarus.