Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited Kyiv on Monday amid growing Ukrainian warnings about Russian efforts to involve Belarus more directly in the war against Ukraine.
Tsikhanouskaya arrived a day after one of the war's biggest strikes on the Ukrainian capital killed four people and damaged historical sites, and amid Russian threats to launch further heavy attacks on Kyiv, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Tsikhanouskaya, an opponent of Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Moscow, said only a democratic Belarus could become a source of stability and security in the region.
"Lukashenko's rhetoric is shifting: we are preparing for war, of course, we want peace, but we are gearing up for war. And that, of course, is very alarming for people," she told reporters after meeting with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, on what she said was her first "working visit" to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has recently warned of Belarus becoming more involved in Russia's full-scale war, now well into its fifth year. He said Ukraine would beef up its northern defences in preparation for any possible new Russian offensive, including from Belarusian territory.
Last week Lukashenko dismissed any notion that Minsk would be dragged into the war, but said that, together with Russia, it would defend itself in the event of aggression.
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