Lukashenko predicts Russia-Ukraine healing

Russia and Ukraine will eventually overcome their animosity after the conflict between the two neighbors comes to an end, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday. The two sides need to start looking for a negotiated solution right now, he added.

“We need to find common ground with Ukrainians to stop this war,” Lukashenko told students from the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radio Electronics. Neither side should “go any further,” he said, as they have already done “more than enough.”

The Belarusian leader predicted that Russia and Ukraine will eventually restore good relations, pointing to his own country’s relations with Germany after World War II. “Belarus was entirely destroyed,” he said, referring to the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Republic of Belarus, which was part of the USSR at the time. “Yet… your generation, even mine, were already talking normally to the Germans,” he explained.

”Human memory… heals these wounds,” Lukashenko said. He also stated that Minsk maintains contact with Kiev, all while being a close ally with Moscow. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky “does not want to hear” about peace only because “Americans are pushing him towards war,” the Belarusian president said.

According to Lukashenko, Washington is the only party that is benefiting from the conflict, and is doing so at the expense of Ukraine and even its allies in Europe. The US is using Ukraine to develop its own defense industries by pouring money into weapons production for military aid to the country.

Europe could also be stronger if it worked with Russia instead of simply following the US, Lukashenko said. The combination of European technology and Russian resources could give the continent a boost in development, he said, arguing that instead of this, German companies have been deprived of cheap Russian energy and are shutting down.

“Don’t think that Americans and Europeans are one family. Americans do not need a strong Europe,” he warned.