Lukashenko orders troops to withdraw from Ukrainian border

At a meeting in the Luninets district on issues of ensuring the country's military security in the southern direction, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that tensions on the border with Ukraine had been eliminated and ordered the withdrawal of troops, the Belarusian state agency BELTA reported .

"After our specific work, the Ukrainians withdrew their armed forces and additional troops that they had transferred to our border from the border and generally withdrew them from the Belarusian-Ukrainian border zone <...> Now we have no complications with the Ukrainians. And I hope that there won't be any," Lukashenko said.

The Belarusian president claims that Ukrainian troops have allegedly become more active on the border between Ukraine and Belarus in recent weeks. According to him, this has caused great concern among the Belarusian population, which is why “separate units” have been sent to the border.

“Ultimately, it is our job – the people in uniform – to make sure that things are calm and that our people can work and harvest today,” Lukashenko added.

In addition, the President of Belarus stated that he intends to discuss “further steps on Ukraine” with Vladimir Putin. “We are not enemies for Ukrainians. I have said this many times. These are our people. The same people as us, as Russians, Russians. We need to reach an agreement as quickly as possible. It turns out that an agreement can be reached. But the main thing is to talk. If there is no dialogue, no conversation, this will be an escalation and people will die,” Lukashenko noted.

The head of Belarus claims that the Russian government is ready to sit down at the negotiating table. In turn, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin that "there are no prerequisites for negotiations yet." Peskov added that Russia needs to continue "achieving the goals set by the president."

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