Zelenskyy: NATO should treat Oreshnik missiles in Belarus as legitimate military target

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said NATO should regard Russia's medium-range Oreshnik missiles deployed in Belarus as a legitimate military target.

Zelenskyy said in an interview with Zerkalo (Mirror), a Belarusian opposition media outlet, that Russia and Belarus are putting on a "show" around the deployment of Oreshnik on Belarusian territory because the full system has not yet been delivered there and "only the relevant vehicles" have arrived.

He said the aim of these moves is to intimidate Europe.

"In my view, NATO should treat Oreshnik as a legitimate target. Ukraine, for its part, will assess this threat… But he [Alexander Lukashenko] should not play games, because after these steps the Russians will bring Oreshnik into Belarus without consulting Lukashenko," Zelenskyy said.

Speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum, Zelenskyy pointed out the threat to Europe posed by Russia's medium-range Oreshnik ballistic missile deployed in Belarus.

Lukashenko said in December that the Russian Oreshnik missile system had been placed on combat duty.

After that, Zelenskyy said he expected greater pressure on Russia from Western partners.