ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday announced that his country has applied a package of sanctions against his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.

“Today Ukraine applied a package of sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko, and we will significantly intensify countermeasures against all forms of his assistance in the killing of Ukrainians. We will work with partners so that this has a global effect,” Zelenskyy said in a statement through US social media company X.

Zelenskyy also claimed that Moscow deployed a system of relay stations in Belarus in the second half of last year, which he said increased the Russian military’s capabilities to carry out strikes on Ukraine’s northern regions, including Kyiv.

Arguing that Russia would not have been able to carry out some of its attacks on Ukraine without “such assistance from Belarus,” Zelenskyy cited the use of Belarusian enterprises and the development of infrastructure in the country for deploying the Oreshnik missile system as an “obvious threat not only to Ukrainians but to all Europeans.”

“Alexander Lukashenko has not only allowed Oreshnik to be deployed on Belarusian territory. Last year, the country’s enterprises supplied Russia with critical components, parts, and manufacturing base for this weapon. This continues in 2026,” he further said.

He went on to accuse Lukashenko of helping Russia circumvent global sanctions amid the ongoing Ukraine war, actively justifying the armed conflict, and “further increasing his own participation in scaling and prolonging the war.”

Lukashenko has not yet commented on Zelenskyy’s remarks.