Zelenskyy-Lukashenka Meeting Unlikely — Podolyak

Alexander Lukashenka and Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the Forum of Regions in Zhytomyr in October 2019., photo Tut.by

Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, called the possibility of a meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Alexander Lukashenka "mildly speaking, highly improbable" on May 22 during the broadcast of "Obychnoe Utro" (Ordinary Morning), writes "Pozirk".

"Lukashenka is not even a regional-level actor; accordingly, he does not determine the escalatory risk levels that exist today," he stated.

Podolyak noted that Belarus has participated and continues to participate in the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine ("official Minsk, of course, not the civilian population").

"I strongly recommend that everyone differentiate between Belarusians and Russians – these are completely different people from the perspective of understanding today's realities and historical mentality," said the advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. "While Russians enjoy mass murder and violence, Belarusians are certainly far from it and, of course, do not welcome the war."

Arguing his position on why it is "senseless to talk" with Lukashenka, Podolyak asked: "What does he influence, what thresholds of influence does he have, where can he determine anything?"

"If the actor Putin wants to use Belarus as a bridgehead for an attack, he will use it (here's another question: does the actor Putin have any resources for this today? This is not 2022)," the guest of the broadcast stated. "If he doesn't want to, he won't use it, but nevertheless, Belarus will always be used, unfortunately, because under Lukashenka it is not a sovereign — I emphasize again — country for provocative actions against Lithuania, Poland, or Ukraine."

"To agree on anything with Lukashenka — I don't even know... How can you communicate with a person who lies all the time? He lied once, he lied twice, he influences nothing, a little braggart, he tells some phantasmagorical scenarios: 'I know this, I don't know that. I have nuclear weapons.' Yesterday, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated for the first time that it had transferred an 'Iskander-M' — one missile with a nuclear warhead; this is the nuclear weapon that came to Belarus and will leave after the exercises (it was supposed to end on the 21st, and [the nuclear weapon] was supposed to leave). Everything else is tales not from the Vienna Woods, but from the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, which Lukashenka periodically tells," the speaker added.

Podolyak reminded that the war "has been going on for four years," Ukraine is fighting "with a large resource-rich country, where there is a lot of superfluous manpower, the Russian Federation — a technologically backward, absolutely dead civilization, a fragment of a civilization that simply wants to kill its neighbors."

"But in four years, the situation in this war has fundamentally changed: today, Ukraine, having seized the initiative, consistently and systematically targets Russia's export-oriented industries, regardless of the distance where those same oil refineries are located, destroying them; it also targets the chemical industry, targets military production — this will intensify, there's no doubt," he said. "The territory of Belarus, compared to Russia's territory, is significantly smaller and much easier to target with fire. Having that accumulated experience of using long-range tools, to listen to some statements from Lukashenka that he will intervene somewhere, do something..."

"It seems to me there's a good field called clinical psychology transitioning into psychiatry. He needs to talk there so they can explain to him the correspondence between the life position he holds and the statements he makes. Although, having been in power for 32 years, you will, of course, be in some kind of delusion. To summarize the question, it's senseless to talk to an empty space," Podolyak stated.

Asked whether a dialogue would be possible if the regime acknowledged that it had provided the country's territory for the attack on Ukraine in 2022, the advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine replied that Lukashenka "will not repent, does not consider himself guilty of anything; on the contrary, he wants to gain some advantage at the expense of others."

"The only moment he might admit guilt — in order to mitigate the legal consequences — will be as soon as the actor Putin, if he survives, sits in the dock," Podolyak emphasized.

• 9
• 0
• 1
• 0
• 0
• 0
• 0
• 0