'Special consequences' — Zelensky announces new sanctions against Lukashenko for aiding Russian war effort

Ukraine has imposed a new package of sanctions against Belarus’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko, for helping Russia to sustain its war against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 18.

"We will significantly step up efforts to counter all forms of his facilitation of the killing of Ukrainians. We will work with our partners so that this has a global effect," Zelensky said.

Russia reportedly deployed a network of drone-control relay systems in Belarus in late 2025 that expanded its ability to strike northern Ukrainian oblasts, including Kyiv and Volyn. These systems enabled some attacks on energy and rail infrastructure that otherwise "would not have been possible," according to Zelensky.

More than 3,000 Belarusian companies, Zelensky added, are supplying Russia with machinery and components, including parts used to manufacture missiles.

Russia is also building infrastructure on Belarusian territory for the future deployment of its Oreshnik missile, which Zelensky noted was "an obvious threat not only to Ukrainians but to all Europeans."

"Lukashenko has for quite some time been trading Belarus’s sovereignty for the continuation of his personal power, helping the Russians circumvent global sanctions over this aggression, actively justifying Russia’s war, and now further increasing his own participation in scaling up and prolonging the war," Zelensky said.  "There will be special consequences for this."

The move to punish Lukashenko for aiding Russia's war effort has come amid U.S. President Donald Trump's easing of some U.S. sanctions against Belarus. The diplomatic thaw between the U.S. and Belarus led to the release of multiple political prisoners.

Belarus was also invited to join Trump’s so-called Gaza Peace Board, created to oversee a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas brokered by the U.S. last October.

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The Kyiv IndependentKate Tsurkan