Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has offered to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine that could involve U.S. officials.
“Tell Trump that I expect him here with Putin and Zelensky,” Lukashenko said in a video interview with U.S. blogger Mario Nawfal, as reported by the Belarusian state news agency Belta.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has faced U.S. and European sanctions over its support of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and its government’s crackdown on opposition.
“We are going to sit down and calmly make an accord — if you want to make an accord,” Lukashenko said in the interview, which was recorded late last month.
The Belarusian leader said any deal would need to involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “since a large part of Ukrainian society is with him.”
Lukashenko praised Trump’s approach to ending the war in Ukraine, calling his diplomatic efforts “a brilliant idea.”
“Trump is a good guy. He talks about it a lot and has already done something to end the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East,” he said.
On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the idea of holding peace talks in Belarus had not been under discussion.
“But for us, Minsk is the best place for negotiations. Minsk is our ally,” Peskov told reporters.
The release of Lukashenko’s interview follows Trump’s claim on Tuesday that Zelensky had told him he was ready for talks on a “lasting peace” with Russia.
Trump’s White House meeting with Zelensky on Friday turned into a heated confrontation, and pressure on the Ukrainian leader has mounted since Trump suspended U.S. military aid to Kyiv.
In the aftermath, Zelensky posted on social media that their dispute was “regrettable” and that he wanted “to make things right” with the U.S. president.
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