Zelensky warns on Belarus role

Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 17 that Ukraine believes Russia is preparing to try again to pull Belarus directly into the war. (msn.com) Zelensky spoke in the Netherlands after Russia’s latest mass aerial attack on Ukraine, which The Independent said involved about 700 drones and missiles and killed at least 18 people. He received the International Four Freedoms Award in Middelburg on April 16. (independent.co.uk) (fourfreedoms.nl) The warning followed an earlier March 24 statement by Zelensky that Russia wanted to place four ground-control stations for long-range attack drones in Belarus, citing Ukrainian military intelligence. Belarus has not publicly confirmed that claim. (independent.co.uk) Belarus matters because Russian forces used its territory in February 2022 as a staging ground for the drive toward Kyiv, and Belarus has continued to provide territory for Russian strikes and military support. The European Union and European Parliament have both described Minsk as enabling Russia’s war effort. (consilium.europa.eu) (europarl.europa.eu) Moscow and Minsk have also tightened military ties since the invasion. Russia announced in 2023 that it would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a move analysts said deepened Belarus’s role as a forward military platform on NATO’s eastern edge. (armscontrol.org) (osw.waw.pl) The cross-border risk is no longer limited to Ukraine. Romania’s defense ministry said on April 17 that radar tracked a Russian drone entering Romanian airspace during an overnight attack on Ukraine before contact was lost near Chilia Veche. (usnews.com) At the same time, Britain and Latvia are leading a “Drone Capability Coalition” to supply Ukraine with large numbers of unmanned systems. The British government said in January 2025 that coalition members would fund 30,000 new drones for Kyiv. (gov.uk) (mod.gov.lv) The Independent reported that Russia’s military had circulated a list of possible targets in Europe and the United Kingdom linked to drone-production support for Ukraine. I could not independently verify that reported list from a primary Russian military document or an official European government release. (independent.co.uk) Zelensky’s message was that the front line can widen even without a formal new invasion route. His warning tied Belarus, Russian drone warfare and pressure on European backers of Ukraine into the same April 2026 picture. (msn.com) (independent.co.uk)