Over the weekend Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko sat down in front of an interviewer from a Japanese TV channel and did a rare thing: he told the truth. "We are not attacking Ukraine, we are not bombing it, we support contacts for ceasefires." But Lukashenko did not tell the whole truth - thus only highlighting the trap, to which he led his country in the war that Russia banned from Ukraine.
Although Belarus does not bomb Ukraine and its troops do not take part in the invasion, its territory has been invaded by ground forces, and from its airports Russian bombers and Russian missiles take off towards Kyiv, Zhytomyr and other cities.
Injured Russian soldiers are also being transported into Belarus - or "Cargo 200", as the deadly fighters are called in Russia.
Lukashenko, in other words, is an ally of Russia, and even makes sure to provide declarations about the "Ukrainian danger" (for example, he claimed that Kyiv intended to attack Belarus - similar to the Carmelite propaganda allegations against Russia), but he does so largely because he has no choice.
Mr Lukashenko owes Putin his survival in power after falsifying the 2020 presidential election and suppressing the civil protest.
And since Russian forces did not leave Belarus after a joint training session on February 20, the country is largely occupied.
Documentation from Ukraine: Armored battles near the center of Mariupol
But the corner to which the Lukashenko regime has pushed itself is nothing compared to the difficulties posed by the war against the Belarusians themselves, the vast majority of whom oppose the Russian invasion against the sister nation.
In a poll conducted shortly before the war by the British Chattem House Institute, only 13 percent of Belarusians expressed lukewarm support for sending troops to Ukraine.
According to Dr. Gregory Estefania, a researcher at the institute, the Belarusian army's participation in the war alongside Russia now only supports 3 percent.
The ambassador returned to Minsk
Explanations were circulating on social media for soldiers on how to avoid sending to Ukraine, and how to turn themselves in to the Ukrainians if they were sent anyway - and over the weekend the risk of this increased with the departure of the Belarusian embassy to Kyiv.
And despite terrorism on the part of the authorities, residents in the provinces near the border go out on night operations and sabotage the railway infrastructure to damage the supply lines to the front.
If within their country the Belarusians' ability to resist a war is limited to nil - after all, they live in North Korea of Eastern Europe, then outside it the exiles have launched extensive activities to help Ukraine.
In the diplomatic arena, the heads of the democratic forces demanded sanctions against the Lukashenko regime as a partner in the invasion, on the ground - it is difficult to find an area where the Belarusian exile aid network has not been routed in favor of Ukrainian refugees.
Russian and Belarusian soldiers in joint operation "Zapad-2021" held last September, Photo: Reuters
"On the first day of the war, we set up a database to find housing," Alexei Leonchik, founder of the BY_help aid fund, which was established in the summer of 2020 to help refugees from the Lukashenko regime, told Israel Today. "Together with other organizations, we also organized transportation from Kiev to Leviv and from there to Poland, we worked at the border and assisted with placement, legal assistance, assistance in finding frameworks for children and the like."
Another Belarusian activist has set up with his partners an interactive map of the whole of Europe, connecting potential hosts and refugees.
While the organization By_Sol has organized, among other things, donations to the Ukrainian army and launches humanitarian and medical assistance into its territory.
And yet, perhaps the ultimate contribution to Ukraine's effort is its willingness to sacrifice life for it.
There are several hundred Belarusians who have found refuge in Ukraine, and now have volunteered to fight for its freedom.
A Belarusian unit, the Kastus Klinovsky Regiment, has also been set up in the country. Collaborate and call the police.
"On this day we decided to join the battalion," Basalov told Israel Today.
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