Ukraine on Monday imposed a package of sanctions against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, vowing to "intensify countermeasures" against Minsk over its wartime aid to Russia, Reuters reports.
Belarus, one of Russia's closest allies, served as a springboard for Moscow when launching its invasion in 2022, allowing Russian forces to approach the Ukrainian capital before being pushed back.
"We will significantly strengthen countermeasures against all forms of (Lukashenko's) assistance in killing Ukrainians," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.
The press service of the Belarusian presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zelensky said that Belarus, which shares a border with Ukraine of more than 1.000 kilometers, has been assisting Moscow in large-scale drone attacks on Ukraine.
Although there was no active fighting along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, Zelensky said that Minsk had allowed Russia to deploy a system of relay stations in Belarus in the second half of 2025 to control its drones in attacks on Ukraine.
"The Russians would not have been able to carry out some of the attacks, especially on energy facilities and railways in our regions, without such assistance from Belarus," said Zelensky, whose decision also banned Lukashenko from entering Ukraine.
Mostly a symbolic move
With Lukashenko already under US and European sanctions, the move is largely symbolic, although Zelensky said Ukraine would work with partners to ensure the new measures have a "global effect", according to Reuters.
Last December, US President Donald Trump approved limited sanctions relief for three Belarusian companies that produce potash - a key component in fertilizers - after the former Soviet state released 123 political prisoners.
One of the former prisoners, Maria Kalesnikava, called on European countries on Tuesday to follow Trump's example and enter into dialogue with Lukashenko, arguing that the absence of such an approach would only further strengthen Russian influence in Belarus.
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Zelensky said more than 3.000 Belarusian companies are supplying supplies to the Russian war effort, including missile components, and outlined Minsk's plans to host the Russian medium-range ballistic missile "Orezhnik".
In December, Russia released a video it said showed the deployment of the Oreshnik system in Belarus. Lukashenko said at the time that the missile had been deployed in Belarus and had entered active combat duty.
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