Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns Belarusians not to allow Russia to drag them into a war against Ukraine. Ukraine is ready to use all means necessary to prevent the launch of Oreshnik missiles from Belarus. According to a UNIAN correspondent, Zelenskyy said this during a conversation with journalists.
In particular, the president spoke about current relations with Belarus and the purpose of his meeting with opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
"We are telling the people of Belarus that they are being drawn into a war against Ukraine. The regime in Belarus allowed an attack on Ukraine in 2022, but the Belarusians did not participate at that time. The regime authorized a full-scale invasion from Belarusian territory and the launch of missiles from Belarusian territory. In other words, this regime is an ally of the aggressor, but there, in Belarus, people are not directly involved in the war. That's the first thing," Zelenskyy said.
At the same time, as the president emphasizes, there are risks of Belarusians being drawn into the war.
"Russia has been building various types of air corridors, which the Russians used during attacks on our energy infrastructure. First of all, these are strike drones. This is technical support, technical equipment on antennas on the territory of Belarus, which helped the drones. Ukraine looked into this and figured out what to do with some of the antennas to reduce the scale of attacks against us. But we can't deal with the "Oreshnik" issue as quietly as we did with the antennas in Belarus. And our signal is that "Oreshnik" is already there, either fully or partially. The preparatory and technical work has been done. We understand this clearly," Zelenskyy emphasized.
He recalled that Ukraine used missiles to strike Kapustiny Yar, where the Russians keep such weapons.
"Therefore, our message to Belarus is that you may be drawn into this war, and the Russians want this," the president added.
Ukraine's expectations of Tikhanovskaya
"We hope that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and other representatives of the Belarusian people will tell Europeans, tell other nations and states – and they meet a lot – that Belarus is being dragged into the war. Because Oreshnik is no longer just antennas. We have done everything to ensure that the antennas do not work, and we will definitely do everything to ensure that Oreshnik does not even start working. This is a threat to us. And we want to use all the tools at our disposal to prevent this from happening. If Russia succeeds in fully involving another country in this war - Belarus - it will be a great tragedy," Zelenskyy said.
According to him, the relevant signals have been sent to prevent Belarusians from being drawn into the war.
"Do not get involved in the war, remember that you are Europeans and that this is our common home," Zelenskyy said.
As the president emphasized, a single use of the Oreshnik would mean that the Belarusians had been drawn into the war because the Russian occupiers wanted it.
"When missiles were flying from Belarus on the first night, Lukashenko kept saying, 'I'm not to blame, it was all the Russians, we've had these weapons for a long time, we've had an army here for a long time. ' He can't say the same thing about attack drones today because he didn't have such weapons. And he certainly cannot say the same about Oreshnik today," Zelenskyy noted.
As reported by UNIAN, in January 2026, the Ukrainian Defense Forces carried out a series of successful strikes on a complex of hangar-type buildings where pre-launch preparation of medium-range intercontinental ballistic missiles takes place at the Kapustin Yar test site in the Astrakhan region (Russian Federation).
Russia launched Oreshnik missiles from this test site. Ukrainian-made long-range strike weapons, in particular the FP-5 Flamingo, were used to deliver retaliatory strikes.
Russia and Belarus - what is known
At the same time, American analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that Russia has effectively annexed Belarus.
On January 29, it became known that another batch of Russian Su-30SM2 fighters had arrived from Russia at the Belarusian airbase in Baranovichi. These fighters can launch R-37M missiles, which are believed to be capable of hitting air targets at a distance of up to 200 km.
