The AP Interview: Belarus admits Russia’s war ‘drags on’

By IAN PHILLIPS
Associated Press

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko is defending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in an interview with The Associated Press, but he said he didn’t expect the 10-week-old conflict to “drag on this way.” He also spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine but wouldn’t say if Russian President Vladimir Putin had plans to do so. Lukashenko said Moscow, which launched the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 — partly from his territory — had to act because Kyiv was “provoking Russia.” But in the nearly 90-minute interview at Independence Palace in Minsk, he said: “I want to stress one more time. I feel like this operation has dragged on.”