Zelenskyy on new sanctions against Lukashenko: "It is the first step"

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine will expand its sanctions policy against Belarus' self-declared leader Alexander Lukashenko and his circle.

"Sanctions policy is the first step, as I said. We will develop it and we are now working on the legal framework to continue it. This will concern not only Lukashenko. We are talking about his circle, his sons and so on. And one more story, as I said: we will monitor all the military assistance he provides [to Russia]," Zelenskyy said in an interview with Belarusian independent media outlet Zerkalo (Mirror).

Zelenskyy said Ukraine intends to raise with the United States the issue of US diplomatic relations with Lukashenko.

"It cannot be that he [Lukashenko] supports the Russian regime, supports it with war and not only its geopolitics. He helps kill civilians. We have evidence; we have all of it on maps, and everything is recorded on video and so on: how Shaheds entered from Belarusian territory, thanks to repeaters. This is a crime because they helped the aggressor; that is a fact. After these strikes, civilians died. So for us this is a crime. And now we will deal with the legal component of these crimes," he added.

Zelenskyy also pointed out that countries had earlier imposed sanctions against Lukashenko over the illegitimate 2020 election in Belarus.

Ukraine introduced a package of personal sanctions against self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko on 18 February.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that equipment has been installed near the border in Belarus to help guide Shahed drones towards targets in Ukraine's western regions.

In the context of Russia's air attack on the city of Kovel, Zelenskyy said that equipment had been installed near the border in Belarus to help guide Shahed drones towards targets in Ukraine's western regions.