Lukashenko warns West against supplying long-range weapons to Kyiv that can strike Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s steadfast ally Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko, on Saturday, cautioned the West against supplying long-range weaponry to Ukraine that can hit Russian territories. Lukashenko wielded threats of using “brand-new weapons” in a retaliatory offensive on Kyiv, should these long-range missiles pledged by the Western countries be launched into the Russian or Belarusian territories, BelTA news agency reported. 

In its 12th aid package, President of the United States, Joe Biden, pledged 18 155mm howitzers, 36,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition,18 tactical vehicles to tow howitzers, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HMARS) and four tactical vehicles, with a total value of $350 million, according to Pentagon.

The $650 million tranches of aid for Security Assistance Initiative in Ukraine also include two Harpoon coastal defence systems, secure radios, night vision and thermal devices, military funding for training, maintenance, sustainment, transportation as well as the administrative costs as Ukrainian troops attempt to push back the advancing Russian troops in the eastern Donbas region.

The Biden administration has already dispatched aid worth $6.3 billion to Ukraine since the onset of Russia’s brutal invasion on February 24. The US  Department of Defense (DoD) underscored authorization of a Presidential Drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $350 million for Ukraine’s defence, as well as $650 million in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds. 

(High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) produced by Lockheed Martin during combat training in the high desert. Image: AP)

Ukraine seeks long-range weapons for ‘counterbattery’ to match Russian firepower

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has been demanding long-range weapons, citing the mounting casualty rate on the Ukrainian side as Russia’s Army relentlessly launches rockets and artillery. Ukraine’s military intends to strike back at the Russian artillery, a defensive posture in combat known as ‘counterbattery’, to match the firepower of Moscow.

With US-manufactured High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and 155-millimeter Western cannons, Ukraine’s military could strike Russia’s advanced tube artillery just twice as far in 155s with cluster warheads. However, the Belarusian leader warned the US and the allies against such a supply plan.

”Ukrainians, Zelenskyy are asking for long-range weapons to hit Russian cities such as Kursk, Rostov, Orel, Belgorod and neighbouring cities. But I once said in public that under no circumstances must it be done," Lukashenko said at a conference at the Belshina tire plant in Bobruisk. 

Lukashenko threatens Ukraine with intensifying retaliatory assaults if Western weaponry target Moscow

Putin’s longtime ally, Lukashenko, threatened Ukraine with intensifying the retaliatory assaults should Western weaponry target Moscow. “And they [new weapons] will be used against Kyiv, against those who make these decisions. That’s why they are still a little bit apprehensive. But it’s not up to them. It all depends on how Americans will be prodding them into this war," the Belarusian President said.

Lukashenko also derided the US aid package, saying: ”What for? For war. So it is just the beginning. They, the powerful of this world, have loads of work to do - to re-divide the world. Americans feel they are losing, but they do not want to lose, since it is their wealth. They want to be on top and to rule the whole world.”  

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had also earlier threatened to "strike at those targets that we have not yet been hitting" in Ukraine if the West supplied longer-range weaponry, according to excerpts of an interview for Rossia-1 state television broadcast. An angry Putin maintained that the "fuss" around providing Western weaponry was a ploy that will flare the conflict if multiple-rocket launch systems such as the M270 and the M142 HIMARS fall into the hands of Ukrainian armed forces.

Putin also said that Russia’s air-defence systems have been destroying Ukrainian drones "cracking them like nuts.” In an opinion piece published in NYT newspaper, president Biden outlined that the United States was "not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders.”