Lukashenko Says Vatican and Israeli Intermediaries Convinced Putin to Pull Back From Kyiv in 2022

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has claimed that Vatican representatives and Israeli intermediaries persuaded Russian leader Vladimir Putin to withdraw Russian forces from the Kyiv region in the early weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, believing a peace agreement could be reached.

According to an interview Lukashenko gave to Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya, the Belarusian leader said intermediaries allegedly acting on behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured Moscow that Kyiv was prepared to negotiate an end to the fighting.

Speaking during the interview, Lukashenko said: “Once again, they probably deceived us. It was the Vatican and, surprisingly, the Jewish lobby, the Israelis. On behalf of Zelenskyy, they said: ‘That’s it, we are moving toward peace, we agree.’”

Lukashenko argued that Putin agreed to pull Russian troops back from the Kyiv area in an attempt to “restore peace” between the two sides. He claimed the Kremlin later concluded that those assurances did not lead to a settlement.

The Belarusian leader also asserted that Russian military commanders believed the offensive around Kyiv could have succeeded had it continued. He further claimed that Russian troops had already reached Kyiv before the withdrawal order was issued. He did not provide evidence to support those assertions.

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War in Ukraine

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Russian forces launched an offensive toward Kyiv in February 2022 but failed to seize the Ukrainian capital. By early April, Russian units had withdrawn from Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions, ending Moscow’s attempt to capture northern Ukraine.

The withdrawal coincided with negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian delegations held first in Belarus and later in Türkiye. At the time, Russia described the pullback as a step intended to facilitate peace talks, while Ukraine and its Western partners said the retreat followed Russia’s failure to achieve its military objectives around Kyiv.

Elsewhere in the interview, Lukashenko said neither Russia nor Ukraine had fully achieved their wartime goals, while claiming Russian forces currently maintain momentum in some sectors of the front.

Lukashenko also apologized to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for some of his previous remarks, saying he may have “gone too far” and acknowledging that he “perhaps shouldn’t have spoken so sharply.” The Belarusian leader further argued that Belarus entering the war would “bring more harm than good,” citing the country’s military vulnerability and the risks of opening a new front in the conflict.

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