Self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has said he needs the Russian Oreshnik missile system to intimidate neighbouring states.

Source: European Pravda, citing BelTA, a Belarusian state-owned news outlet

Details: While visiting Vitebsk Oblast in Belarus, Lukashenko said the Oreshnik system, which he called a "terrifying weapon", would be put on combat duty in December.

"Why? I want them [Lukashenko's opponents abroad – ed.] to know we can slap them down if things go south. We'll sit down with Putin, decide and then slap them down. So don't mess with us," he added.

Lukashenko said this would enable Belarus to avoid Ukraine's fate, claiming that "the war in Ukraine began with this: in Donbas, Russian-speakers were oppressed, killed and persecuted. I saw it with my own eyes."

He then reflected on the Minsk agreements, which he claimed that the West and Ukraine used to "deceive Russia and us".

"They deceived us. Well, they've had their day. Two million people have been killed or injured. Why are you picking a fight with us? We were living quite normally – Poles, Lithuanians and so on," Lukashenko said.

Background:

• Russia has used the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile only once in the war against Ukraine – in a strike on Dnipro in November 2024.
• Shortly afterwards, Lukashenko announced that Moscow would be sending one such system to Belarus.
• In September, Belarus boasted that it had practised deploying Oreshnik during the Zapad-2025 (West-2025) exercises.

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