The Daily Populous Tuesday June 16th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by united24media.com and submitted by UNITED24Media

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has publicly apologized to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for previous sharp remarks directed at him.

Lukashenko discussed his past public criticisms of the Ukrainian president and attempted to provide context for those statements, according to Glavred on June 15.

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"Perhaps I went too far in some places, but it was a response to his groundless statements: 'Yes, we have 500 targets, yes, we know where Lukashenko is. Tomorrow we will strike with missiles and drones.' I remained silent. Even everyone was surprised that I kept silent. I understood that the person was under such pressure, a young person, inexperienced, he is not a military man. Perhaps something did not click in his head. I remained silent. But when they started threatening me, I was forced to respond to that as well," Lukashenko said.

"If Volodymyr Oleksandrovych was offended, I apologize to him for those words. Perhaps I shouldn’t have, considering that he is fighting, after all. Perhaps I shouldn’t have spoken so sharply about it. But, on the other hand, he should understand, as we often say: you get what you give," he added.

Beyond the apology, the Belarusian leader addressed concerns regarding the potential expansion of the front lines in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He emphasized that Minsk has no interest in the fighting spreading to Belarusian territory. According to Lukashenko, he believes that the infrastructure of his country would be highly vulnerable to strikes, claiming that there are already 500 potential targets identified within Belarus.

"Belarus is very vulnerable in a military sense if Ukraine starts attacking Belarus the same way it attacks Russia, because Belarus is like the palm of a hand for Ukrainian soldiers. We understand perfectly well that our main life-support facilities—production and logistics—will come under attack," he stated.

Lukashenko also touched upon his recent discussions with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, asserting that the Kremlin does not view the direct involvement of Belarusian forces in the hostilities as beneficial. He argued that if a new front were opened from the direction of Belarus, it would extend the line of engagement by 1,500 kilometers, a stretch he claims both nations would struggle to defend.

He cautioned that such a scenario could fundamentally change the nature of the situation, potentially leading to a direct confrontation between the Russia-Belarus alliance and NATO.

"We understand that the entry of Belarus in any capacity into the war, into the situation, is unacceptable. It will bring more harm than good," Lukashenko maintained. He reaffirmed that he has no intentions of initiating military operations against Ukraine and reflected on his earlier, unrealized proposals for negotiations during the initial stages of the invasion.

"From the side of Belarus and especially from my side, military actions should not be expected. From the first days of the war, I offered him how to agree, how to make peace; if he had listened to me back then, in 2022, today there would be no talk about where to stop on the line of contact," he concluded.

Following the warning from Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces Commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi regarding the identification of 500 potential targets in Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko dismissed the statement and claimed that Belarus had prepared a counter-response.

Lukashenko argued that Ukrainian military personnel sought to avoid an additional front, while simultaneously asserting that his administration had identified its own set of 500 targets in return. During his remarks, the Belarusian leader specifically mentioned that he was aware of one "very serious target" with precise coordinates located near the Belarusian border.

Discuss this article: PERPLEXITY CHATGPT CLAUDE GEMINI

wastedgod on June 15th, 2026 at 22:03 UTC »

wait are things so bad for Russia that even belarus is distancing itself from them. That's pretty telling

this_is_a_long_nickn on June 15th, 2026 at 21:47 UTC »

When the rats sense the boat sinking…

ArgentineBeauty on June 15th, 2026 at 21:39 UTC »

It's hard not to see this as Lukashenko trying to give himself an out if things keep going south for Russia.