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‘The most dangerous thing is that this conflict will go on,’ said the Lukashenko
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Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko has warned that the world risks “global conflict” if the war between Russia and Ukraine continues.
“This conflict must be frozen,” he told The Record with Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax.
“The most dangerous thing is that this conflict will go on. And if the escalation is still there, the consequences might be very hard and very dangerous for Europe and for the entire world,” he said.
“It will escalate into a global conflict. That is why we must extinguish this conflict right now when we have the opportunity.”
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out a ceasefire by Christmas, saying Russia is likely to reject a new European-backed peace proposal and that Ukraine must be ready to continue fighting.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Zelensky said a final set of proposals would be completed within two days and handed by the United States to Moscow.
He said Kyiv expected the Kremlin to refuse the plan. Russia has already dismissed calls for a Christmas truce, insisting any pause must meet its demands.
President Vladimir Putin has insisted that Russia will achieve its war aims by diplomacy or military action.
“First, the goals of the special military operation will undoubtedly be achieved. We would prefer to do this and address the root causes of the conflict through diplomacy,” Putin said on Wednesday.
“If the opposing side and their foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive discussions, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means. The task of creating and expanding a security buffer zone will also be consistently addressed.”
Donald Trump has said that his top negotiator in the Ukraine peace talks “knew nothing about Russia” before he was tasked with finding an end to the war.
The US president commended his diplomats in a wide-ranging Hanukkah celebration speech at the White House on Tuesday as American and Ukrainian delegations wrapped up the latest round of peace talks in Europe.
Trump singled out his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff for praise over their work on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire earlier this year, before they were sent to lead talks with Ukraine.
Prime minister Keir Starmer has confirmed that Britain will issue a license to release £2.5bn in frozen assets from Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea Football Club to humanitarian causes in Ukraine.
The assets have been frozen since 2023.
Starmer said the license would offer Abramovich a final chance before legal action would be taken over the assets.
The European Parliament has officially approved plans to phase out Russian gas imports by late 2027.
Lawmakers voted 500 in favour, 120 against and 32 abstained. The next stage will require formal approval by EU ministers, expected early next year.
Under the agreement, Russian liquefied gas imports will be halted by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas by the end of September 2027.
Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia accounted for 45 per cent of EU gas imports. That figure has been reduced to 12 per cent as of October, following the invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire in a damaged residential building following an air attack in Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday.
Debris from a downed Ukrainian drone set fire to processing equipment and a pipeline at an oil refinery in Russia, authorities said on Wednesday.
The brief incident took place at the Slavyansk refinery in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region overnight. No casualties were reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing “ownerless” homes in occupied regions of Ukraine to be seized by Russian authorities.
The law will apply to areas controlled by russia including Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia, according to TVP World.
Residential buildings, apartments and rooms are eligible to become public property owned by the municipality.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fled the country when Russia invaded in February 2022.
The body of Corporal George Hooley, a British paratrooper who was killed in a “tragic accident” in Ukraine is to be brought back to the UK.
His repatriation will take place at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Wednesday.
A private, family-only ceremony will be held before the cortege departs past a memorial garden to John Radcliffe Hospital, according to Oxfordshire County Council.
President Vladimir Putin has said that Western speculation about an all-out war with Russia is based on “hysteria” and is “a lie”.
He added that if Ukraine and the West were to abandon peace talks, then Russia would take territory in Ukraine by military force.
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