He said this after the official part of his speech at the ceremonial assembly on the occasion of Independence Day, according to the BelTA agency.
The Belarusian dictator reported that during talks with U.S. President’s special envoy on Ukraine Keith Kellogg, he conveyed to the American side putin’s position on resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
Allegedly, the kremlin’s master told him: “We are for a ceasefire, we are not against it. We simply don’t want American, British, French, and German missiles hitting our cities”.
Lukashenko claims that putin is “putting forward a key condition”: he will agree to a truce if Ukrainian defenders stop striking russian territory.
Lukashenko emphasized that he conveyed this point of view to the U.S. representative and heard in response: “We will work in this direction”.
As previously reported, russia categorically refuses a ceasefire, justifying it with its successes on the front line. At the negotiations in Istanbul, moscow insists on international recognition of four occupied regions of Ukraine as subjects of the russian federation, the withdrawal of troops from territories that the russians have failed to capture over more than three years of aggression. Ukraine must agree to near-complete disarmament and renounce NATO.
Additionally, the kremlin insists on its right to interfere in Ukraine’s internal affairs regarding religious and language issues.