Posted on 08/15/2024 10:56:31 AM PDT by Alter Kaker
LONDON (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine should negotiate an end to their conflict to avoid the war spilling over into Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, said in an interview with Russian state television.
Lukashenko was speaking against the backdrop of a Ukrainian incursion into Russia that began on Aug. 6 when thousands of Kyiv's troops smashed through Russia's western border in a major embarrassment for Putin's top military brass.
In a wide-ranging interview, Lukashenko said that only "high-ranking people of American origin" wanted the Ukraine-Russia war to continue.
The West, he said, was encouraging Kyiv to fight because it wants Ukraine and Russia to "destroy each other", according to excerpts of the nearly two-hour interview published on Thursday on the Belarusian presidential website.
Russia said on Thursday that it would beef up border defences as hundreds of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate the western Kursk region. Kyiv said its forces have advanced 35 km (22 miles) into Russia since last week and continue to gain ground.
Laugh all you want, it will happen. The only question is how many have to die before you Russians give up on being an occupying power.
hittin' the moonshine a little early today, aren't you?
Interesting. Lukashenko knows President Putin very well. He is implying Putin realizes the "no win" situation of the war and wants it to end.
Of course, Lukashenko is putting this out for his own purposes. It may or may not contain much truth.
It was stupid for us to not give weapons earlier that could have ended this. And it was stupid for us to tell Ukraine they couldn’t attack Russia.
It’s almost as if we didn’t want either side to win...so we c can just make US taxpayers pay for more weapons?
What changed? Oh we have a new war to make money on in the middle east. So now we give Ukraine better weapons and allow them to fight on the offensive.
Is this statement from Lukashenko also “just AI”, or can we all agree that Ukraine has actually entered Russia and is holding Russian territory?
The New York Times writes that victory for Putin is now "definitely within reach."
"His [Putin's] latest peace proposal, under which Russia retains the occupied territories and Ukraine is banned from joining NATO, has been rejected by many Western leaders. However, in fact, this is the most realistic scenario for how this war will end," the newspaper writes.
That’s not to mention the grudgingly rosy picture it paints of Russia’s economic outlook:
Nor has the West managed to cut off the sources of Russia’s economic might, despite rounds of sanctions. The economy is growing healthily, and the assets of Russian oligarchs remain safe in the West, even if frozen. Most important, Russian oil is being bought and sold with minimal difficulty around the world as Western leaders can’t seem to decide what they want more: to meaningfully punish Russia or keep things as they are. Tellingly, the U.S. Treasury’s proposal to impose penalties on tankers that help Russian oil evade sanctions has stalled over the White House’s fear that higher gasoline prices won’t play well at the polls in November.
Russia needs the ports they have around the Crimea they:re vital to her survival. Sure there’s the black sea but that has two choke points, her shipping could held hostage by the drones of her enemies or would be pirates. This war, from the very beginning has always been about the Crimea and bottling Russia up.
Ukraine owes Lukashenko a punch in the mouth.
This buffoon is the new age version of Warsaw Pact leaders that kow towed to the Soviet Union.
That said he is right in the sense that the West is perfectly content to keep Russian military busy spinning its wheel in Ukraine. It’s a cheap way for us to take our opponents pieces off the board without forsaking our own blood (and also to test weapons and strategy).
Since the first few months I have repeatedly said the Ukraine should sign an armistice and regroup to fight another day. But they are stubborn and would rather sacrifice thousands of men to reclaim a few acres.
As an avowed anticommunist I have hated Russia since the Soviet days. But one must be practical, it is impossible for the Ukraine to beat Russia on the battlefield, even with better weapons.
Funny thing to say given that the average soldier in your army is drunk by 9am. What's your favorite, Ру́сский Станда́рт?
If Russia can keep the Ukrainian territory its occupied and get a ceasefire to rebuild its forces, then it will just try to invade the rest of Ukraine against in a couple of years.
I'm an American who is tired of sending our tax dollars overseas to bail out your little green troll.
Russia has lost on the battlefield plenty of times previously in colonial wars. It lost to the Afghans, and it certainly got bruised pretty seriously by the Finns. No reason to think the Ukrainians can't be successful. It's hard to occupy another country's territory!
You've heard and believed a lot of things that aren't true, what's one more thing?
I'm an American
LOL
And then you didn't offer one word of outrage that your Democrat pals tried to murder President Trump...
“Laugh all you want, it will happen.”
I would not be surprised if Trump makes this exact ultimatum: Both sides leave each others territory. If Uke refuses, no more aid to Uke. If Russia refuses, Trump arms Uke to the hilt.
Yup. The Russians original stated goal back in 2014 when they started this nonsense was in securing the Sevastopol port for their Black Sea Fleet. Today they have no Black Sea Fleet - their surviving ships are hiding out in occupied Georgia. So the whole thing is pointless. Just return all the occupied territories and there will be peace.
Lukashenko is very nervous this week. If the Russian Army can’t keep the Ukrainians out of Kursk there is nothing that can protect Belarus.
If Ukraine had crossed Lukashenko’s border instead of Putin’s the Belarussian regime wouldn’t survive long.
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