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More Than 400 Belarusian Ukraine Supporters Convicted Since 2022, UN Report
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Belarus's latest wave of political repression has fallen heavily on people who supported Ukraine, including hundreds prosecuted for tracking Russian troop movements through the country, a United Nations report has found.
The conclusions come from Nils Muižnieks, the United Nations Special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, in a report to the Human Rights Council dated May 19. The document examines developments between April 2025 and March 2026.
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According to the report, authorities have convicted at least 403 people for backing Ukraine since February 2022, with more than 200 still imprisoned as of February 2026. Law enforcement gained access to the "Belaruski Hajun" chatbot in February 2025, a tool used to report Russian troop movements.
By February 2026, at least 183 people had reportedly been detained for sharing such information, the Special rapporteur indicated. Trials since early 2026 have produced 155 further convictions for "facilitating extremism."
The campaign sits within a far broader structure of political imprisonment. As of March 31, 2026, rights organizations documented 954 people held as political prisoners in Belarus, among them 122 women, the report stated.
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Between January 2025 and March 2026, the Belarusian leader, Aliaksandr Lukashenka, freed more than 400 people recognized as political prisoners, many after negotiations with the US, the report recorded.
Most of those released in 2025 were forcibly deported, often stripped of documents and denied the choice to remain. On March 19, 2026, around 250 more were freed, with 15 high-profile figures expelled without papers or the option to stay. Lukashenka denies that political prisoners exist and has described those freed as "traitors and spies," the Special papporteur added.
With over 950 people still recorded as political prisoners at the end of March 2026, the Special rapporteur found no grounds to conclude that the country's human rights situation had improved.
The wave of imprisonment and deportation has emptied Belarus of much of its political opposition, which now operates from exile. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya ran against Lukashenka in the disputed 2020 election and now heads the United Transitional Cabinet from Lithuania.
She made her first official visit to Kyiv on May 25, 2026, traveling by special train at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She arrived with a delegation that included the Cabinet's deputy head, Pavel Latushka.
On June 22, 2026, the Cabinet warned that Lukashenka's government might be preparing to enter Russia's war directly, citing a 1.5-fold rise in contract soldiers since 2022 and a mobilization reserve of about 289,000.
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