Wrong For Ukraine To Demand Preordained Result For Zelensky-Lukashenko Meeting. Courage Of Arrogance Or Ignorance? Trying Not Defined By Talking With Those Who Agree With You. What Will Trump Think?
Wrong For Ukraine To Demand Preordained Result For Zelensky-Lukashenko
Courage Of Ignorance Or Courage Of Arrogance?
Trying Is Not Defined By Engagement With Those Who Agree With You
What Will Kushner, Trump, Witkoff Think Of Refusal?
An Opening On 13 August 2026?
On 21 May 2025, Alexander Lukashenko, President of Republic of Belarus (1994-2030), offered to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (2019-2024; term extended due to imposition of martial law in 2022).
Significantly, President Lukashenko said the meeting could be in Belarus or Ukraine.
President Zelensky has yet to accept the offer despite an increasing focus by President Zelensky and the government of Ukraine upon the role of the government of Belarus and the armed forces of Belarus providing, directly and indirectly, commercial, economic, financial, military, political, and societal value to the government of the Russian Federation and armed forces of the Russian Federation.
The Trump-Vance Administration (2025-2029) continues to increase engagement and re-engagement with the government of Belarus. This remains officially and publicly unwelcomed by President Zelensky, the government of Ukraine, political leadership and some members of the twenty-seven-country member Brussels, Belgium-based European Union (EU), and political leadership and some members of the thirty-two-country member Brussels, Belgium-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
EU: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
NATO: United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Albania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Romania, Germany, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia, Hungary, Spain, Turkiye, Latvia, and North Macedonia, Sweden.
President Zelensky continues to use every available opportunity to meet face-to-face with heads of state and heads of government- whether bilaterals, funerals, inaugurations, multilaterals, or summits irrespective of the amount of time permitted for engagement. He does so whether welcomed or not. He does so because he believes his communicative skills, when operational in person, can be persuasive.
He also travels because he appreciates that not accepting and not creating every opportunity for dialogue jeopardizes support from governments, taxpayers, and voters in those countries which provide commercial, economic, financial, military, political, and societal support to the government of Ukraine and citizens of Ukraine. They need to see him trying. They want to see him trying.
On 13 August 2026, nearing ninety days after President Lukashenko delivered his offer to meet with President Zelensky- in Belarus or in Ukraine, an official of the government of Ukraine may be signaling an opening to schedule a head of state to head of state meeting.
“The Embassy of Ukraine in Belarus is not closed, diplomatic relations have not been terminated. We see constant exchanges of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war through the territory of Belarus. And without communication with the Lukashenka regime, this would not have been possible. Therefore, we can assume, and we see these examples of implementation, that such communications are taking place. If in the conditions of war there is a need to reduce the number of human casualties or stop hostilities altogether, and for this the President of Ukraine or one of the civil servants of Ukraine will need to meet with one or another enemy, or a representative of the opposite side, then such actions may be carried out. I’m not saying that this will necessarily happen. But if the price of this meeting is worth the meeting, in particular for the sake of saving human lives, everything is possible.” Yaroslav Chernogor, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for Democratic Transformations, Cooperation with Democratic Forces, and National Movements in Unfriendly States.
Revisiting statements from May 2025:
“If he wants to talk about something, consult or anything else, we are open to it. At any point, in Ukraine or Belarus, I am ready to meet him and discuss the problems of Belarusian-Ukrainian relations…. For some reason, we have things to discuss with Americans, Germans, Poles, Lithuanians, and Latvians, but not with Ukraine.” President Lukashenko
“There have been no diplomatic contacts with Belarus recently… Recently, we saw a strange statement by Lukashenka that he is ready to meet and come to Kyiv. The Ukrainian side has someone to meet with, and in the near future we are waiting for [Sviatlana] Tsikhanouskaya [Belarus opposition in exile leader] to visit Ukraine. Therefore, we have someone to talk to about the whole range of issues.” Andrii Sybiha, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
“Since 2022, it has been obvious to everyone that this man's words mean nothing, so we look at his actions. Lukashenko has a habit of making up rather stupid stories, post factum, about where an 'attack was being prepared' against him. So, what is there to discuss here?” Dmytro Lytvyn, Communications Advisor in the Office of the President of Ukraine
“Of course, [Sviatlana] Tsikhanouskaya's visit does not mean that we recognize her as the president of Belarus. For us, she is the head of the United Transitional Cabinet and the leader of Belarusian democratic forces.” Yaroslav Chernogor, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for Democratic Transformations, Cooperation with Democratic Forces, and National Movements in Unfriendly States.
President Zelensky accepting the offer to meet President Lukashenko will be viewed positively and, most significantly, productively, by Donald Trump, President of the United States (2017-2021 and 2025-2029).
Steven Witkoff, Assistant to the President, Senior Advisor, and Special Envoy (2025- ) of the Trump-Vance Administration (2025-2029), and Jared Kushner, a son-in-law of President Trump, need to see President Zelensky engaging not only with heads of state and heads of government who are providing support to the government of Ukraine, but those heads of state and heads of government who may have a role in persuading Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012- ), to negotiate an end to the military component of the Russian Federation-Ukraine War (2014- ). Among that influential group is President Lukashenko.
On 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded and further invaded the territory of Ukraine in what President Putin defined first as a Special Military Operation (SMO) and on 22 December 2022 defined as a war. The initial invasion of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation was in part from the territory of Belarus.
The war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine did not commence on 24 February 2022. The roots began their trajectories on 20 February 2014 when the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded the Crimean Peninsula and the area known as the Donbas Region (Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast).
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