Ukraine warned Belarus that if its troops enter the territory they will be destroyed mercilessly

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba warned the Belarusian side that if its Armed Forces enter Ukrainian territory and start hostilities, they will be destroyed “mercilessly” like the Russian troops.

“We have very simply and clearly communicated to the Belarusian side that if its armed forces enter the territory of Ukraine and start hostilities here, they will be mercilessly destroyed, just as the Russian army is being destroyed,” Kuleba said in a statement on Thursday. Ukrainian television was collected by the Ukrinform agency.

Kuleba specified that “the last thing that should interest Belarusians is that their sons, brothers and husbands die here because of absurd ideas from Putin and Lukashenko.” He further added that the Belarusian troops are not prepared to fight.

Kuleba added that, according to some sources, the Belarusian army “does not want and is not ready to fight Ukraine.”

According to the latest report published by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, there are about four battalion tactical groups of the Armed Forces of Belarus near the border with Ukraine.

The Ukrinform agency says, citing the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, that Russia is trying to persuade the Belarusian army to participate in the war against Ukraine even with payments that, it says, range between 1,000 and 1,500 euros per month.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on Belarus on Wednesday “to end its complicity in Putin’s invasion.” In this sense, the Ukrainian authorities have affirmed that it is still “impossible to rule out the possibility” that he participates together with the Russian troops.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday there were signs of preparations by Belarusian authorities for an offensive, though Minsk has consistently insisted it is not taking part in the war and will not join hostilities.

Ukraine has also denounced that the territory of Belarus has been used by Russia for the transfer of troops and equipment in the framework of the invasion. The offensive began days after Putin recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine.

On the other hand, Belarus has hosted several meetings between delegations from Ukraine and Russia to try to reach an agreement to end the conflict. This represents one of the main avenues of negotiation, aside from a meeting in Turkey between the foreign ministers of both countries and the mediation undertaken by Israel.