Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko believes that Donbas will stay within Ukraine despite the current armed conflict in the oblast.
“Time will pass and even Donbas will be Ukrainian, it will even be as nationally oriented Ukrainian authorities want it to be. It is more difficult, almost impossible with Crimea,” Lukashenko said in an interview with several Belarusian media outlets in Minsk on Aug. 4.
“Everybody in Russia, particularly the country’s leadership, is fed up with the conflict in Ukraine,” he said, noting that he does not believe that “the Ukrainian leadership wants peace to be there tomorrow.”
“You should be smarter and slier so that Ukrainian border guards shut down the border. No one will forget this [the conflict in Donbas], but with the time being everything will get back on the normal track. Thirty million people died in World War II, [now] we are hugging Germans. Certainly, much time is needed, but these steps should be taken,” the Belarusian leader said.
