KYIV, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine imposed sanctions against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday, vowing to "increase countermeasures" against Minsk for its wartime assistance to Russia.
Belarus, one of Russia's closest allies, served as a staging ground for Moscow to launch its 2022 invasion, allowing Russian forces to get close to the Ukrainian capital before they were pushed back.
"We will significantly intensify countermeasures against all forms of (Lukashenko's) assistance in the killing of Ukrainians," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on social media.
The press service of the Belarusian presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zelenskiy said Belarus, which shares a border of over 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) with Ukraine, had aided Moscow's extensive drone attacks on Ukraine.
DRONE ATTACKS FACILITATED BY BELARUS: ZELENSKIY
Although there has not been active fighting along the Ukraine-Belarus border, Zelenskiy said Minsk had allowed Russia in the second half of 2025 to deploy a system of relay stations in Belarus to control its drones in attacks on Ukraine.
"The Russians would not have been able to carry out some of the attacks, particularly on energy facilities and railways in our regions, without such assistance from Belarus," said Zelenskiy, whose order also banned Lukashenko from entering Ukraine.
Speaking later in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said Lukashenko "continues to play along with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in his dangerous geopolitical game", including the deployment in Belarus of Russia's hypersonic Oreshnikmissile.
"Belarus continues to be used as a supply base for components, equipment and machinery for the Russian army," he said. "Minsk must understand this. The sanctions send a political signal."
LARGELY SYMBOLIC MOVE
With Lukashenko already under U.S. and European sanctions, the move is largely symbolic, although Zelenskiy said Ukraine would work with its partners to ensure the new measures have a "global effect."
U.S. President Donald Trump in December granted limited sanctions relief to three Belarusian companies producing potash - a key component in fertilisers - after the former Soviet state released 123 political prisoners.
One of those former prisoners, Maria Kalesnikava, urged European countries on Tuesday to follow Trump's lead and engage in a dialogue with Lukashenko on the grounds that failing to do so would only strengthen Russian influence over Belarus.
Zelenskiy said more than 3,000 Belarusian businesses were providing supplies for Russia's war effort, including missile components, and also cited Minsk's plans to host Russia's Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile.
Russia released video in December of what it said was the deployment of the Oreshnik missile system in Belarus. Lukashenko said at the time that the missile had been deployed to Belarus and entered active combat duty.
(Reporting by Max HunderEditing by Daniel Flynn, Gareth Jones, Rod Nickel)
