Ukraine’s presidential office has formally asked the country’s chief prosecutor to evaluate whether criminal charges should be brought against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, according to a letter that became public on Tuesday.
Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory as a staging ground for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.
The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the letter was written in response to an appeal from the Belarus Democratic Forum, an exiled opposition organization. That group had written to Zelenskiy back in May, urging Kyiv to pursue charges against Lukashenko for war crimes, genocide, and what it called “state terror.”
The Forum also accused Lukashenko of playing a role in the forced transfer of at least 2,442 Ukrainian children into Belarus — a program that has been documented by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab.
Lukashenko’s government did not respond when asked for comment. Back in 2023, the Belarusian leader claimed his country had only temporarily taken in some Ukrainian children to help them recover from trauma related to the war.
A senior Zelenskiy official, Oleh Tatarov, wrote to the Forum on Tuesday saying the appeal had been passed along to the prosecutor’s office with a request to “take the appropriate response measures” if legal grounds existed. The Forum published the letter publicly.
Neither Zelenskiy’s office nor the prosecutor’s office immediately responded to follow-up requests for comment.
Although there is little chance of Lukashenko actually appearing in a Ukrainian courtroom in the near future, any formal charges could give both Kyiv and Belarusian opposition groups additional ammunition to push Western nations to maintain pressure on him. This comes as Lukashenko is reportedly in negotiations with the administration of President Donald Trump, seeking to have more U.S. sanctions lifted in exchange for releasing political prisoners.
Zelenskiy has been taking a noticeably tougher approach toward Lukashenko in recent weeks. Last month, he issued Lukashenko an ultimatum demanding the removal of signal relay stations that Ukraine says are being used to help Russian drones strike Ukrainian targets.
Earlier this month, Lukashenko reaffirmed that he would not deploy Belarusian troops into the conflict, telling military officers and graduates: “Nobody is going to send you into this bloodbath.”
Despite that, Lukashenko has continued to support Putin in other ways — including allowing Russia to station tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus and granting access to Belarusian military bases and training facilities.
Dmitry Bolkunets, who serves as secretary general of the Belarus Democratic Forum, said that prosecuting Lukashenko would “significantly increase the personal legal and security risks faced by Lukashenko” and would represent an act of historical justice.
“It could have a profound impact inside Belarus, because Lukashenko would take it very personally and be deeply concerned about the consequences,” Bolkunets told Reuters.
