Self-proclaimed president of Belarus Alyaksandr Lukashenka understands that if he participates in the active phase of the war against Ukraine, he will not be able to keep the country in its current state, so he is trying to avoid it, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said on the air of the national telethon.
"The situation with Belarus is not easy, it has been under Russian occupation for a certain period of time. Of course, the Russian leadership is forcing Lukashenka to take part in the active phase of the war, he is a human being, one can put it many ways, but he has a sense. He understands that if, God forbid, he makes such a decision, it will be extremely difficult to keep Belarus in the form it is today," Danilov said.
He added that if Russia dares to attack again from the territory of Belarus, the Ukrainian military will definitely defend the country.
Earlier, a representative of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Vadym Skibitskyy, said that there were currently 5,800 Russian troops in Belarus. A week earlier, the contingent numbered about 11,000 soldiers.