meeting of the dictators
Putin receives Lukashenko – and once again claims that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has failed
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the Ukrainian counter-offensive as a “failure”. When Putin welcomed him to a meeting in St. Petersburg, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said, according to Russian news agencies: “There is no counter-offensive.” Putin replied: “It exists, but it has failed.”
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has traveled to St. Petersburg on a working visit to meet with Vladimir Putin. The two dictators also visited an Orthodox cathedral, while the Kremlin bombed a church in Odessa.
For the second time since the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has received the allied Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko. On Sunday, the two visited a museum honoring the Russian Navy not far from the Russian Baltic Sea metropolis of St. Petersburg. According to the Kremlin chief, the working visit will continue on Monday.
Authoritarian Belarus is considered Russia’s most important ally in the war that has been going on for 17 months. Rockets are fired from Belarusian territory. Once again, Putin and Lukashenko downplayed the ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensive. Lukashenko said: “There is no counter-offensive.” Putin replied: “It exists. But it failed.” Ukraine started its counter-offensive to liberate occupied territories a few weeks ago. She’s not progressing as quickly as she’d hoped.
“The Wagner people have started to make an effort”
Lukashenko also commented on soldiers from the Russian private army Wagner, who were resettled in Belarus after a failed uprising against Moscow. “The Wagner people started trying to make an effort for us,” he said. The mercenaries wanted to “take a trip to Warsaw and Rzeszów,” he added. Both are cities in Poland. Lukashenko assured that the mercenaries would remain stationed in central areas of Belarus.
Poland’s government had previously expressed concern that Russian fighters were now in the neighboring country. Therefore, Polish troops are to be transferred towards the border with Belarus.