ATACMS Missiles in Ukraine to Increase Scale of War: Lukashenko

On Thursday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko issued a warning about the potential for a large-scale war due to the delivery of long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine by the United States.

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"We are taking steps toward a full-scale war with the deployment of the deadliest weaponry," he stated during a meeting with the Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto in Minsk.

"It's alarming that we could disrupt the existing world order, no matter how flawed and criticized it may be," Lukashenko stressed.

According to the Belarusian leader, the supply of ATACMS missiles represents an escalation in Russia's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. 

"Russia will never accept it, and neither will we," emphasized Lukashenko, stressing that Belarus' stance on the Ukrainian conflict is virtually the same as Hungary's. "We don't want this war, just like you don't," Lukashenko told Szijjarto.

In response, the Hungarian diplomat assured that his country would maintain communication channels with Belarus despite the current situation. He emphasized that giving up hope for restoring peace in the region would be the result if those channels were closed.

"We will always keep communication lines open because closing them would mean giving up hope for peace," Szijjarto said, adding that Hungary does not want "more loss of life and destruction in this war."

"How can we avoid that? By ending the war. We Hungarians know that peace comes through negotiations," he stressed, hoping that "Eurasian cooperation will become a reality again."