Dear Ukrainians. Dear Belarusians. Dear friends,
Four years.
Four years since Russia tried to erase Ukraine in three days.
Four years since Lukashenka opened the gate — and Putin drove his war through it.
For four years, Ukraine has resisted the aggression — with dignity, resilience, and extraordinary bravery.
The very myth of Russia’s “military greatness” has been shattered.
The world has seen the truth. Not “liberation,” but occupation. Not “glory,” but genocide. Not “strength,” but cruelty — and fear.
And today, Russia is doing something especially vile.
It is weaponizing winter. They target power stations. Heating systems. Water lines. Homes. Hospitals. Schools.
They want families to freeze. They want cities to become uninhabitable. They want people to sit in darkness and cold — and surrender.
Ukrainians have a word for it now — “kholodomor.” Death by cold. A new terror, echoing an old one.
This is a war crime.
And still — Ukraine stands.
Repair crews work under fire. Doctors operate through blackouts. Neighbors share generators, blankets, warmth.
I am proud of Belarusians who set up a Point of Invincibility in Kyiv to provide warmth and electricity to Ukrainians suffering under this terror.
Ukraine’s resilience is the answer to Russia’s terror. Ukraine’s courage is Europe’s shield.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said recently that Putin has already started World War III. Ukraine is the outpost stopping him.
I believe this. Because if Ukraine falls, the war will not stop. It will spread. It will come to more homes. More borders. More children.
And Belarus will be dragged deeper into it — unless we stop it.
Just weeks ago, in Vilnius, I met President Zelenskyy. He understands that Belarusians are fighting two dictators – Lukashenka and Putin. And we are fighting for Ukraine.
The regime is an ally of the aggressor. But the Belarusian people are not.
Belarusians sabotaged the railways in 2022 to slow Russian troops.
Belarusians volunteer for Ukraine, fight for Ukraine, raise money for Ukraine, host Ukrainian families, mourn Ukrainian dead as our own. And Belarusians fill Lukashenka’s prisons for protesting this war.
They are held hostage so Lukashenka can keep serving Putin.
Their suffering is part of this war.
Dear friends,
Four years have taught us something simple: Russia’s brutality does not run out by itself. It is stopped.
Stopped by Ukrainian soldiers.
Stopped by Ukrainian air defense.
Stopped by sanctions.
Stopped by unity.
Stopped by courage.
So today, on this painful anniversary, I ask the democratic world to do three things.
First: Protect lives. Ukraine needs stronger air and missile defense to protect cities, energy infrastructure, water systems, hospitals.
Second: Tighten sanctions on Russia — and on Lukashenka’s war industry. Close loopholes. Target logistics and dual-use goods. Every evaded sanction becomes a drone over a sleeping city.
Three: Bring perpetrators to justice. For deportations. For torture. For executions. From Putin and Lukashenka, to their officials, propagandists, and companies enabling this terror.
And I ask one more thing — from all of us.
Do not get used to this war. Do not let fatigue become surrender.
Keep an eye on Belarus, too. We are part of the same frontline — against the same empire, the same lies, the same dictatorship.
Ukraine fights not only for its own freedom – it fights for all of Europe, and Belarus too.
One day, the border between our countries will not be a line of threat. It will be a line of friendship.
One day, trains from Minsk will bring tourists, students, musicians — not tanks.
One day, Belarus will never again be used to attack Ukraine.
I say this to Ukrainians: You are not alone. You are not forgotten.
Your courage has changed Europe — and it has changed Belarus.
I say this to Belarusians: Hold on. Do not let your homeland be stolen and rented out to the Kremlin. Belarus is not a barracks. Belarus is a country. Belarus is Europe.
And I say this to the world:
If you want this war to end, help Ukraine win.
If you want Belarus to be free, weaken Lukashenka and Putin.
If you want peace — defend it.
Slava Ukraini
Жыве Беларусь!
