Zelensky going to Belarus? Lukashenko is fuming!

"Russia and Ukraine should negotiate an end to their conflict to avoid the war spilling over into Belarus," Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, said in an interview on Russian state television.

Lukashenko was speaking in the context of Ukraine's incursion into Russian territory that began on August 6, when thousands of Ukrainian soldiers stormed Russia's western border, proving a major embarrassment for Putin's military leadership.

Lukashenko said in an interview that only "high people of American origin" want the war between Ukraine and Russia to continue.

The West, he says, is encouraging Kyiv to fight because it wants Ukraine and Russia to "destroy each other," according to excerpts from the nearly two-hour interview published Thursday on the official presidential website.

Russia said it would strengthen its border defenses, while hundreds of thousands were ordered to evacuate from the western Kursk region. Kyiv said its forces had advanced 35 kilometers into Russian territory last week and were continuing to occupy the territory.

Lukashenko hinted, although he did not provide evidence, that Kyiv had intentions to attack Belarus and said that Minsk would not allow Ukrainians to "tread on our land".

Instead of supporting the continuation of the fight, Lukashenko called for negotiations.

"Let's start the negotiations and finish this fight," he said. "Neither the Ukrainian people, nor the Russians, nor the Belarusians need that. They (the West) need that."

Moscow has said that any peace talks should be based on Ukraine giving up its territory, a fifth of the country, most of which was occupied by Russian forces. Ukraine is ready for negotiations on the condition that Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully respected.

"We don't want an escalation, and we don't want a war against the whole of NATO. We don't want that," he said. But if Ukraine provokes Belarus, Lukashenko continued, "We will have no other choice."

Lukashenko said that the West is counting on the destabilizing situation in Kursk to trigger the mobilization of the army in Belarus and Russia and to "shake society from the inside".

He called the conflict a "joint war" between Belarus and Russia against "those beasts" – Kyiv and its Western allies – and said Moscow would "support" Belarus in the event of an attack.

Minsk said on Saturday it was sending troops to reinforce its southern border with Ukraine after accusing Kyiv of violating its airspace with drones.

He said that Minsk sees no reason to use Russian nuclear weapons, which have been on the territory of Belarus since last year, except in case of violation of its borders.

"We will not use any weapons until you step on our state border," he said.