Ambassador of Ukraine to Belarus Ihar Kizim, commenting on Alexander Lukashenko's message to the people and the parliament on Facebook, focused on the issues of the foreign policy of Belarus.

- The main thing that I did not hear in the message is at least some kind of explanation as to why Belarus got involved in the war against Ukraine on the side of the Russian Federation and what is the benefit for Belarus in this? - asks Ihar Kizim.

He calls economic sanctions from Ukraine a lie.

- The first package of sanctions was introduced only in November 2022 (then supplemented in January 2023), and it is a response to the promotion of the invasion of Russian troops and the launching of missile and bomb attacks on Ukrainian territory from the territory of Belarus.

Moreover, and this is a fact, in 2021, after the "Covid" 2020, bilateral trade quickly recovered and grew to 6.3 billion dollars, and in January-February 2022, it showed a growth of 40% until 2021, which made it possible talk about 7.5 billion in annual calculation.

So what kind of sanctions can we talk about with such growth?

– asks Ihar Kizim.

The ambassador says that Belarus lost the premium Ukrainian market worth 5 billion dollars as a result of Lukashenko's decision.

According to Kizim, by joining the so-called Russian "special operation", "Belarus lost the opportunity to claim the role of a mediator and even a place for holding negotiations on the settlement of the war."

- It has been announced again that Belarus is not going to attack anyone, but if someone sets foot on its territory, "the response will be terrible" and, obviously, together (with the support) of the Russian Federation.

Question: why does Belarus consider it appropriate to defend its land "to the last" in case of aggression against it, while Ukrainians must agree to give their lands to the Russian conquerors (this is one of the Kremlin's conditions to stop the war) and refuse to support their partners in repelling Russian aggression?

He contradicts Lukashenka's thesis about the alleged "weariness of war" and "unwillingness of both sides to fight", the desire, including by Ukrainians, for negotiations "without preconditions", etc. The Ukrainian people have the motivation, according to him, because "we , unlike the Russian invaders, we are liberating our temporarily occupied territories, we know what we are fighting for and we know how to win this war."