Belarusian President Lukashenko says Trump should not dictate who leads Ukraine

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump should not decide who becomes Ukraine’s president, saying that choice belongs to Ukrainians.

“It’s not for Trump to decide who will be president of Ukraine,” Lukashenko said. “That’s for the Ukrainian people to decide.”

Lukashenko said Trump should not dictate how Ukraine acts, but argued that Washington has leverage because Kyiv depends on the United States for intelligence and weapons. He said the lesson for smaller countries was to avoid becoming dependent on major powers.

He also said Washington was signaling to Moscow that sanctions could be lifted if Russia reaches an agreement with Ukraine now, while warning that sanctions could remain even if the war continues into next year. He presented this as his understanding of U.S. pressure on Russia.

Lukashenko said he hoped the war would end this year or next, arguing that both sides were suffering and that “all wars end in peace anyway.”

Separately, Lukashenko warned the United States against believing its power was unlimited. “They believe there is no force capable of stopping them. They are mistaken,” he said, adding that forces beyond human control could eventually “put the powerful of this world in their place.”