Any Belarusian can join the Movement and choose from numerous options to resist the war and the Belarus regime. Read the Manifest.
Here is an overview of the Movement for the week of April 4-10.
Support for Ukrainians and Belarusians
- The BYSOL Foundation sent seven more new vehicles to Ukraine. Two ambulances and an evacuation off-roader were delivered to the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital. Three pickup trucks and a van to the Vostok SOS NGO and its partners in the territorial defense. Using these vehicles, BYSOL also sent medical supplies and tourniquets for the Pirogov Hospital and Kastus Kalinouski battalion. Belarusians raised all the funds for the aid.
- The Polish Sejm voted for amendments to the laws on the legalization of Belarusians. The Senate and the Polish President are expected to adopt and sign them by the end of the week. The Interior Ministry working group involving the representatives of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office, the National Anti-Crisis Management, and the Center of Belarusian Solidarity will continue its work to help Belarusians in Poland with other significant issues.
- The BYSOL Foundation released an update on visas for Belarusians and available options to receive them. The Foundation told about Polish, Lithuanian, Italian, German, Hungarian, and other visas.
- The Center for Belarusian Solidarity (CBS) reported that Belarusians who had submitted their passports to the Polish consulates in Ukrainian Lviv, Kyiv, or Vinnytsia before the war can now get their passports in the Polish consulate in Lviv. CBS had raised this issue at the meetings with the Polish Interior Ministry working group on Belarusians.
Awareness campaign
- The Spotlight of the Regions project covered the situation at Naftan, an oil refinery in Navapolatsk, and Santa Bremor, a food manufacturing company based in Brest. Santa Bremor is planning to dismiss a thousand people, some employees' payments have been halved, and the company's press service confirms “the situation is not easy”. At Naftan, a stoppage is expected in 2-3 months, with the production difficult to re-launch, and a technological catastrophe is possible.
- The Honest People initiative launched a website with guides on how to talk to relatives about Russia's war against Ukraine and Belarus' role in the military conflict: https://pogovori.org. Most arguments of those who watch state-controlled TV are the same, so the website will help Belarusians provide counterarguments and explain the truth about the war to those exposed to propaganda.
- Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addressed Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “Lukashenka can't be a guarantor of peace and must be held accountable for his crimes against both Belarusians and Ukrainians”.
- At the invitation of the German Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, the head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, Pavel Latushka, on behalf of the Belarusian democratic forces, is taking part in the ceremony in memory of the fallen prisoners of Buchenwald. On April 10, the 77th anniversary of the concentration camp liberation, Mr. Latushka and the representatives of Ukraine’s and Russia’s civil society will read out the oath in memory of the fallen prisoners.
Resistance
- In response to the genocide in Ukrainian Bucha, where Russian troops had been killing civilians, Hrodna residents drew chalk shadow figures of people with their hands tied behind their backs.
- Belarusian media outlet Nasha Niva made a map of partisans' railway sabotage aimed at jamming the hauling of Russian military equipment to Ukraine. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported 80 cases of sabotage.
- Liudmila Ramanovich, an activist from Malaryta, Belarus, was accused of insulting the “president” and placed in the detention center. Liudmila had sent an appeal to Lukashenka's administration demanding the withdrawal of the Russian army from Belarus, reminding that Lukashenka had been assuring Ukrainians that no one would ever invade Ukraine from Belarus.
