Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk claimed Sunday that Belarus was about to declare war on Ukraine, joining Russia's war on the country, Luke Harding reported in The Guardian.
“Republic of Belarus is highly likely to join the Russian war against Ukraine. On Russian side. There is an information about airborne troopers from Republic of Belarus loaded on the planes to enter Ukraine," Zagorodnyuk said.
"This is a terrible development as it involves a country, which until very recently was a great friend of Ukraine; which people always considered Ukraine as a brotherly nation. Ukraine and Belarus has never been to war one with another in their many hundred years of history.
We believe that the only reason for that decision was personal demand from President of Russia, which completely depends from Putin in its policy,” Zagorodnyuk concluded.
Zagorodnyuk's warning comes as the citizens of Belarus vote on a constitutional referendum to allow Russia to store nuclear weapons in Belarusian territory.
The referendum, if passed, would change Article 18 of the Belarusian constitution, which calls on the country to stay neutral.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is expected to support Russia to a greater extent if the constitutional amendment passes.
“If necessary, if such stupid and mindless steps are taken by our rivals and opponents, we will deploy not only nuclear weapons, but super-nuclear and up-and-coming ones to protect our territory,” Lukashenko said on February 17, the state-run Belta news agency reported.
NATO nations believe the amendment will be passed and deepen Russia's alliance with Belarus.