Zelenskyy: Belarus is taking a big risk. This is a matter not only of sovereignty, but also of security

— Mr. President, immediately after the start of the war, we tried to arrange this interview. Perhaps in dozens of different ways. And now — almost four years later — we are finally talking. Why did you agree specifically now?

— First, I want to say openly: I have always had great respect for Belarus, for the Belarusian people, and have visited Belarus repeatedly. But, honestly, after the start of the war... It wasn't just some offense. We are on the threshold of understanding that not only Russia started the war, but that the Russian Federation has an ally — Belarus. Thank God we are talking about Lukashenka's regime, we are not talking about the Belarusian people. But nevertheless, when missiles fly, Belarusians must understand that Ukrainians are dying, and for them, Belarus at this moment is an aggressor's ally, an ally of Russia.

Therefore, to be honest, it was simply not the time for an interview. That's all. Because I am focused on the war and I perceive Belarus through how it is spoken about in this context, how Belarus itself speaks about itself, how Russia speaks about it. These are allied states, one of which is definitely fighting on our territory and killing our people with their own. And Belarus says that "we don't control them [the Russians]" and so on.

At some point, you realize that Belarus probably doesn't control the Russian army located on its territory, but it doesn't completely not control it. Why — I will explain now.

Now we see a new format of relations [between Belarus and the Russian Federation], where Belarus clearly knows what is happening on its territory. And it's no longer possible to say, as Lukashenka told me after the start of the full-scale invasion, that missiles [to Ukraine] flew, but they "have been standing there for a long time, we don't control that, we don't control the launch." Now drone transponders have appeared on the territory of Belarus, and this new equipment that has appeared there helps Russian "Shaheds" hit our people, the civilian population, and energy infrastructure, because targeting is being adjusted thanks to these transponders.

And the next step is the preparation of a site for the deployment [in Belarus] of "Oreshnik" (a missile system and a medium-range ballistic missile of the same name, which Russia uses to strike Ukraine. — Ed. note).

All of this constitutes new steps; it's not about old actions that didn't depend on Lukashenka, as he claimed. Now, this clearly depends on him. Coordination, transponders, information, adjustment of jet "Shaheds" — all of this clearly depends on the local [Belarusian] authorities.

Therefore, we are now at a point where Belarusians must understand the full risk. Russia has always wanted to involve Belarus in this war, so that the people of Belarus, the military of Belarus, would fight against Ukrainians. Previously, you were involved in other things. For example, your factories — pardon me for saying "your," [referring to the factories] of Belarus — produce artillery shells. And at the very beginning of the war, after Lukashenka lied to me that he controlled nothing, all your [military] warehouses were moved to Russia. All artillery was moved to the Russian Federation. According to our information — perhaps I am mistaken — the Russians were supposed to return all of this. But they didn't give anything back to Belarus, they paid money, as far as I know. And most importantly — your country continues to produce artillery for the Russians. That is, this indicates that they [the Belarusian authorities] are participating [in the war].

And the production of artillery can still be explained by saying: "Well, excuse me, Ukrainians also buy it from one country or another." Yes, but on the territory of other states, there are no transponders for our drones that guide them [for attacks] to one territory or another. At least, nothing [from us] is flying over the territory of Belarus. There is no "Oreshnik" on our territory aimed at Belarus, and we have no other missiles aimed at you.

And I agreed [to the interview], although I don't have much [free] time, because I believe: Belarus is taking a big risk. Lukashenka is pushing you towards Putin. And now this is a matter not only of Belarus's sovereignty, but also a matter of security. Because you are being used. You have technologies, equipment that threatens Ukraine, and today — all of Europe. All of Europe! I believe this is a great risk, and Belarusians must know about it.

— Does Ukraine consider these transponders and "Oreshnik" legitimate military targets?

— I won't say how, but our people have been working to ensure that three or four transponders are no longer operating on the territory of Belarus. We simply have no other choice, otherwise there will be further attacks on our land. And from that direction, significantly less is flying now, I want to tell you.

As for "Oreshnik" — in my opinion, NATO must view it as a legitimate target. Well, we will observe and assess this threat.

I am simply saying that Lukashenka is making a big mistake. It's not just about "Oreshnik." Everyone sees that a big show is being made out of it now. They haven't even brought the entire complex [to Belarus] yet, only the corresponding vehicles, but they are already presenting it as if [everything is there]. They are scaring Europe. But Lukashenka is playing with fire, because after these steps, undoubtedly, without even asking him, the Russians will bring "Oreshnik" to the territory of your state.

Another story — I know that they [Lukashenka and Putin] are talking about joint military exercises on the territory of Belarus. We will see how large they will be in reality. When they were last massive, you remember, the offensive on the territory of Ukraine began (referring to the "Allied Resolve" exercises in February 2022, from which the full-scale Russian invasion began. — Ed. note). Therefore, all of this is a great risk for Ukraine, that's for sure. And, I believe, a great risk for Belarusians.

— At the beginning of the full-scale war, in 2022, Russian troops moved into Ukraine from the territory of our country, planes took off, and missiles were launched. However, you did not strike military targets in Belarus. Why?

— In response to my words that they are aggressors and allies [of Russia] and are being drawn into the war, because missiles were flying from your territory and troops were entering, Lukashenka claimed to me on the phone that he did not control this situation, and said: "If you want — you can respond to us, strike Mazyr, strike the [oil refinery] plant [located there]." My team and I discussed this — everyone wanted to respond. But, in my opinion, Putin was just waiting for that — for us to strike at that moment. Then he really wanted Belarusians to be able to enter with their troops from that direction as well. We are not saying that there were large forces or capabilities there [in the Armed Forces of Belarus], but nevertheless. We would have had to think about how to defend from that side.

The Russians involved Belarus in the war for only one reason. When they were pressing us in the east and their main concentration of troops was there, they wanted to disperse our forces [along the front line]. And one of the ideas was for Belarusians with some manpower to start entering [Ukrainian territory], to scare us. In this case, of course, we would have had to react and redeploy some part of the troops. And we would have weakened the east.

Now he [Putin] is simply using this territory. Well, as for Lukashenka — I don't know if this can be called a dead end, because he controls nothing or allows this to happen. He seems to think that his, shall we say, new stage of relations with the Americans gives him some kind of, you know, immunity. No.

Firstly, he has no immunity in his country, and the people must understand that they are being drawn into the war. Secondly, the Americans are doing what they need to do — extracting certain political prisoners. Thank God that people are alive and free. I don't know the details about these people, but the mere fact that they are being released from prisons is a positive. The Americans are doing this. On what terms [they communicate] with Lukashenka — frankly, it's a pity if it's solely related to the lifting of certain sanctions or intentions [to lift them] — well, you can't just forgive like that, in my opinion.

But these are Lukashenka's fantasies that he will be helped if he continues to get involved in this war. Moreover, the war is no longer in its first year, and it is technological. We do not use our drones against Belarus, because we are not at war with your country — I will emphasize this once again. We are not in the first year of the war, and we do not need to use our manpower and our military. We can control many things from Kyiv's territory. And therefore, I believe that he still needs to "come to his senses," as they say in Ukraine, to sober up, not to get involved in the war. "Oreshnik" for us is an escalation of already complicated relations with Belarus.

— You introduced personal sanctions against Alexander Lukashenka, spoke with political prisoners deported to Ukraine, addressed Belarusians, and warned about our country's involvement in the war. You even said that Lukashenka's dog has more rights than the Belarusian people. Previously, there wasn't such attention to Belarus — nor an official meeting with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Did you not do this to avoid provoking Lukashenka and crossing certain "red lines"?

— I believe he is provoking us [to these steps] now. As for sanctions [against Lukashenka] — Europeans who introduced restrictions, many other countries, have been addressing me for a long time. We, let's say, had our own red lines regarding this. Now, through political steps, we are demonstrating our attitude towards his involvement in the war and his assistance to Putin. But these are exclusively political or economic steps, which, by the way, do not concern the finances of ordinary Belarusians. The conversation is exclusively about this one person.

Nevertheless, he must understand this: we are monitoring, Europeans are addressing us, and we will continue the corresponding policy if Lukashenka does not come to his senses and stop.

— Last autumn, commenting on another statement by Alexander Lukashenka about Ukraine, you said: "He will still pay for what he has done, namely allowing the offensive from his territory. No one will forget this." Introducing personal sanctions against the Belarusian politician, you listed in your Telegram channel the forms of support that official Minsk provides to Russia in this war, and concluded the post with the words: "There will be special consequences for this." My question is — what consequences?

— Sanctions policy is the first step, as I said. We will develop and are now working on the legal basis for its continuation. This will concern not only Lukashenka. We are talking about his entourage, his sons, and so on. And another story, as I said: we will monitor all the military aid he provides [to Russia].

We did not raise the issue of Lukashenka with the American side because we saw that the Americans were inclined to establish contact with him, to achieve a diplomatic outcome. Now we will join this track and discuss with the USA that this cannot be, that he supports the Russian regime — supports it through war, and not just its geopolitics. He helps kill civilians. We have evidence, we have all of this on maps, everything is recorded on video and so on: how "Shaheds" entered from the territory of Belarus thanks to transponders. This is a crime, because they were helping the aggressor — that's a fact. After these strikes, civilians died. That is, for us, this is a crime. And now we will deal with the legal component of these crimes.

— Will a criminal case be initiated in Ukraine against Alexander Lukashenka?

— This is a question for other departments. I will not talk about it yet, but all relevant bodies will also be working on this direction.

— I want to return to what you said about the negotiations between Alexander Lukashenka and the USA. Are you against this?

— No, I am not against America's negotiations with Lukashenka. I definitely do not support the lifting of sanctions against him. I don't believe the war is over. Sanctions were imposed due to the illegitimate elections in Belarus [in 2020]. But these are questions for the countries that imposed the sanctions. We then supported the entire civilized world and the people of Belarus and did not support Lukashenka then — this is the first reason [why sanctions should not be lifted].

And the second reason concerns Ukraine exclusively: sanctions were imposed against Lukashenka's economy because he is an accomplice in the aggression against our country. We have always been very careful in the UN, in the geopolitical direction. When initiating certain resolutions, we usually did not speak about aggression [from] Belarus. We never allowed ourselves to do this, because we believe that, well, there are questions [regarding] Lukashenka, there are questions [regarding] Belarus, there are questions [regarding] the Belarusian people.

Some Russians ask: "What's the difference? Why are we in Russia guilty that Putin started the war, but Belarusians are not?" Because Lukashenka did not start the war. Putin started the war. Lukashenka is an accomplice. But there are officially no Belarusian people, no Belarusian army, on the territory of Ukraine. But the Russian army is there. And therefore, Russians who pay taxes and thereby support the army, and go into it through mobilization, are direct criminals. And Lukashenka is an accomplice, but for now, the Belarusian people are not [accomplices].

Why "for now"? Because, I repeat, Belarusians are being drawn into this war. This cannot be allowed.

Therefore, [I am holding] both intensive meetings and conversations with representatives of opposition forces, with journalists. These are not signals, no matter how Lukashenka interprets it, that Ukraine wants to fight with Belarus. No, we want Belarus not to fight against us. We are not measuring strength, or anything. We simply believe that this [would be] a big mistake. A huge, terrible mistake — that's what the Russians did. And this [Belarus's entry] would also be a huge, terrible mistake. This is what we are talking about.

Therefore, I use all channels to convey this information to Belarusians — peaceful people, calm people.

— At the end of January, speaking in Vilnius, you said: "The uprising of Belarusians should have won in 2020 — so that there would be no threat from there today. Europe and the world should have supported the rebellious people — and history would be safer." Don't you think that if the protests had won in 2020, Putin would have simply come with an army to Belarus and done exactly what he is doing now with Ukraine?

— I don't know... I can't tell you what would have happened. But you cannot allow your freedom to be given away. That's all. And especially, you cannot give anyone the right to sell your freedom.

Look, this is the choice of Belarusians. I was just talking about the military track because I believe it's very terrible, it's a tragedy. Because we are in a war, but we didn't choose it. A man came to us, started killing us. And now the man lacks strength.

10,000 North Koreans are now on the territory of Russia [for the war with Ukraine]. He [Putin] lacks people. He doesn't want to mobilize Muscovites and St. Petersburgers. He just doesn't want to. He mainly takes people from villages, poor people, who won't even be remembered. That's what he does. With others, he bargains for money.

And, I believe, he is drawing Belarusians in. Drawing them in — but that doesn't mean that Belarusian soldiers, servicemen, border guards will come to our territory today. As I said, it's a different war now — you can draw them in technologically. He is drawing them in by deploying his auxiliary technical forces on your territory. [And therefore] Lukashenka can no longer say: "I didn't control [the missiles], it was here before, and that's why it flew." But such drones as now did not exist before the start of the war, such transponders that they use did not exist, there was physically no "Oreshnik" on the territory of Belarus. And it cannot just appear. That's what I'm saying. Excuse me for repeating myself so many times. You know, I feel the risk. I feel it.

Павялічыць

Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an interview with "Zerkalo," February 2026. Photo: Press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine

— In our country right now, hundreds, if not thousands, of Belarusians are in prisons for helping Ukraine: some fought on your side, some engaged in partisan activities on the railway, some tracked the movement of Russian troops. Is Kyiv doing anything to extract these people? Do you see that there is such a problem?

— We do. But I want to tell you: in my opinion, first and foremost, Belarusians must do something to free these people. I am not shifting the responsibility for these steps to anyone, but about seven thousand Ukrainians are currently in Russian prisons. I don't believe that Russian Federation prisons differ in any way from Belarusian prisons. I believe these are identical regimes with hatred for people. The only difference is that Belarusians are imprisoned in Belarus, and Ukrainians are imprisoned in Russia. And they [Russians], I think, treat Ukrainians more harshly than [their own] political prisoners — citizens of other countries. I believe this because we see the consequences on the bodies of our prisoners of war, we see their injuries, traces of torture.

It's not easy to free people. Everything needs to be negotiated. Regarding Lukashenka — we can negotiate with the Americans [for assistance in their release], we are ready to help, and we have helped. When the USA was negotiating with Lukashenka regarding the release [of some political prisoners], we provided our territory, provided transport, medical care to those Belarusian prisoners who were released now (referring to those released on December 13, 2025. — Ed. note). We took them in on our territory. And we are ready to continue doing this; we will provide Belarusian prisoners with any help within our power. But it is very difficult to release them from prisons.

I specifically gave an example with our Ukrainian citizens, who are a priority for me as president. I think you understand this. And it's very important: you always have to exchange someone for someone else. To free Belarusians, you need to find something to exchange them for.

— There are Belarusians who fought on Russia's side and are now prisoners of war in Ukraine.

— We do exchange prisoners of war for prisoners of war. I want to give you an example: several Asian countries (I think you understand which ones) contacted us — we captured their people. I cannot exchange their servicemen for any other servicemen, no matter how much they ask me. I can exchange their servicemen who fought and killed Ukrainians only for citizens of Ukraine who are prisoners in Russia. The Chinese can take our prisoners from the Russian Federation, and I will give them the Chinese. I can only exchange for citizens of Ukraine.

I'll tell you honestly: we had people from Belarus who changed citizenship and are now citizens of Ukraine — and they are treated the same as Ukrainians who were born Ukrainians. Everyone who is a citizen of Ukraine, we exchange first. Well, there's just a very large number of servicemen — more than 6,000 [in Russian captivity]. I think you understand this.

— You said: "Everything needs to be negotiated." If Belarusians who are in prisons for helping Ukraine could be released, but for that it would be necessary to talk to Lukashenka, would you do it?

— Firstly, I spoke with him during the war. I already said this: he called me, he wanted to talk. We had not the most pleasant conversation, but it happened. Secondly: today we have the opportunity to contact at the intelligence level and raise relevant issues. These issues were also raised with the Americans. This is what I said: we participated in the release of Belarusian political prisoners. We, I emphasize once again, will continue to work in this direction.

— You yourself recalled your conversation with Lukashenka at the beginning of the full-scale war. You said that he apologized to you. Later, Belarusian propaganda claimed that there were no apologies, and the conversation itself supposedly happened solely due to the emotional reaction of his youngest son, who had your personal contact in his phone. How did this conversation actually take place, and what role did Mykola Lukashenka play in it?

— This is some kind of phantasmagoria, to be honest. First: one needs to remember which phone he [Alexander Lukashenka] called — hardly mine. But I spoke with him. Second: he apologized, and he was very afraid that we would strike [in response]. And he himself said: "Well, go ahead, strike the factory," because he didn't know what we could do. And I think he realized that we " weren't finished off" on the very first day — our people weren't finished off, our army wasn't finished off, and I personally wasn't finished off. And when he realized this, he began to look for an opportunity to talk to me. He was looking — I didn't want to. I didn't react immediately, I didn't want to talk, I was terribly angry at him. Well, in principle, that's how our conversation with him went.

— We wrote to your Office's advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, and asked if there was a recording of the conversation; he said: "No comments."

— Podolyak might have something, maybe he was eavesdropping on something there (laughs).

— And Mykola Lukashenka is not related to this conversation in any way?

— No, no. All I know about Kolya Lukashenka is that he is Kolya Lukashenka. I know nothing else about this guy.

— How was your meeting with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya?

— It was a good meeting. But it's not our first at all.

— Officially — the first.

— Well, one could say so; apparently, in this format, it was the first conversation. Although I met with her, I think, even before the full-scale invasion. We had such a meeting on the sidelines of a summit, yes. I think it was Lithuania. Well, forgive me, I don't remember anymore. But we definitely met several times at various international venues.

But such a bilateral meeting — officially the first. A good meeting, we talked normally. It's really cool to talk to Belarusians — I [in such moments] think how cool it is for Belarusians to talk to Ukrainians. We speak different languages, but we understand everything. And that's really cool. Well, really, it's very cool.

For example, when you used to talk like that with Russians… I had a story at the beginning of the summit [in the Normandy format with Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, and Emmanuel Macron] in December 2019. I remember, our official part began: I spoke Ukrainian, Putin spoke Russian, Emmanuel spoke French, and Merkel spoke German. So when they spoke — everything was normal. When I started speaking Ukrainian during my official speech, the entire Russian delegation clicked [their tongues] — you know, with a sound — [gestures], indicating that they disliked that I could speak Russian with them.

Although, in principle, one can also speak with Russians, because we all must understand and respect each other. But, you see, with Belarusians it's very, very pleasant and very simple. No problems. Zero.

And we spoke with Sviatlana in the same way. I believe that we need to strengthen contacts with Belarus. With Sviatlana, with journalists, as with you today. Thank you for this conversation. We need to communicate more. I agree with her idea that there should be a Ukrainian special representative for Belarus — to contact Sviatlana, her people, and other Belarusians who are not in the country for understandable reasons. Therefore, I told her that I would work on this. We will choose a person, I promised her.

— What future do you see for Belarus and Ukraine?

— I believe that the best future is for countries that are friends of the European Union. I don't know if the Belarusian people will support this, but from a geopolitical and independence perspective, in my opinion, it is correct. From an economic point of view... I am sure that people in Belarus are intelligent. I just think that the anti-European propaganda that has been waged in your country for many years proves one thing: there will be restrictions on Belarus's development, in business, prices will only rise, wages will be low, you will be beggars. But this is just propaganda. [And the best future is] to be in the European Union. But this, of course, will be the choice of Belarusians.

What else is important? It's strong relations between two independent countries — Ukraine and Belarus. This can be developed, I believe, if there is a leadership that will give freedom to Belarusians, that will respect Ukraine's independence. We, I am sure, will respect Belarus's independence. I think this is the best that can be. Peaceful relations, where we respect each other's sovereignty. And missiles do not fly from one country to another.

— Please continue: Belarusians are…

— It's difficult now. Very difficult to say. Excuse me, but it is so. War. War… Before the war, they were friends, and neighbors, and like us… But now before all these words — war. And that's why there are three dots. War — that's three dots. And I would really like the war to end and for something to surely change in the relations between our countries. After all, the Belarusian people did not start the war against Ukraine. I think that is the wisest choice and status for a Belarusian to remain in.

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