Belarusian president claims Ukraine is ‘pushing’ Russia to strike with nuclear weapons

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko claimed in an interview posted on Sunday that Ukraine’s invasion of Russia is an attempt to "push" Moscow to hit it with nuclear weapons. 

"Such escalation on the part of Ukraine is an attempt to push Russia to asymmetric actions. Let's say to use nuclear weapons," he said in an interview with local outlet Rossiya, according to a translation by BelTA.  "I know for sure that Ukraine would be very happy if Russia or we used tactical nuclear weapons there. They will applaud it."

The top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Kyiv was goading Moscow into taking nuclear action in an attempt to further rally a united front against Russia.

"We would hardly have allies left," Lukashenko continued. "There would be no… sympathetic countries left." 

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Concerns over nuclear escalation in the conflict in Ukraine have been heightened since the war began more than two years ago when Putin warned, "whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to consequences you have never seen in history."

Former DIA intelligence officer and author of "Putin’s Playbook," Rebekah Koffler, told Fox News Digital that following Ukraine’s incursion last week, "Technically, a tactical nuclear strike can be justified under the Russian doctrine, given that Russia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity have been violated."

But the expert also said she doesn’t anticipate a nuclear strike at this time. 

Lukashenko's comments regarding the threat of nuclear warfare were not the first issued by the Putin ally since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Similarly, Lukashenko last week warned that Belarus would "use nuclear weapons if the enemy crosses the border of the Union State. There will be no red lines, the answer will be instant."

The Union State refers to a 1999 agreement between Belarus and Russia that forms a "supranational union" binding the two nations under a tight alliance.

Koffler said she believes Lukashenko’s comments were "almost certainly… coordinated with Putin."

"Russia and Belarus are part of the Union State. Their military doctrines are aligned, and their forces are loosely integrated from the command and control standpoint," she continued. 

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But despite the close ties the two nations share, Minsk has yet to send troops into Ukraine to aid Russia in its more than two-year-long invasion. Though it has allowed Russian soldiers to deploy from its borders into Ukraine.

Lukashenko on Sunday said he had moved one-third of Belarus’ military to its shared border with Ukraine after Kyiv allegedly stationed some 120,000 troops there, reported Reuters, citing Belarusian news outlet BelTA.

"The goal of this move likely is, at minimum, to create the perception of opening the second front or to pre-stage forces for the possibility of opening the second front on behalf of Russia – threatening Ukrainian forces and making them feel stretched," Koffler said. 

But the former DIA intelligence officer also said Lukashenko’s comments serve a second purpose by attempting to put "psychological pressure" on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government and create "uncertainty about what the next step will be, as far as Russia-Belarus joint actions." 

The exact number of Belarusian troops at the border remains unclear, but according to figures cited in a report by Reuters, one-third of Minsk’s fighting force is believed to number around 20,000.

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Andriy Demchenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian border service, on Sunday said despite Lukashenko’s comments, the situation at the Ukraine-Belarus border remains unchanged.

"As we can see, Lukashenko's rhetoric does not change either, constantly escalating the situation with regularity to please the terrorist country," Demchenko said, according to Reuters. 

"We are not seeing any increase in the number of equipment or personnel of Belarusian units near our border."