Belarusian troops will not fight outside Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko has vowed, amid fears that the Russia-allied country could join the war in Ukraine. 

“No orders to go [fight] outside Belarus have been given or will be given. We will fight only when someone comes to us with bad intentions. That’s it,” the Belarusian leader said on Thursday. 

“I feel bad when I read reviews of the world’s media claiming various things about me,” he added. “They say that I might give an order to go into another country and this order will be fulfilled.”

On Sunday, Ukraine called on Belarus to pull back what it described as significant levels of troops and equipment deployed at their shared border.

Mr Lukashenko earlier said that Ukraine had sent more than 120,000 troops to the border — a claim denied by Kyiv. 

Ukraine’s state border guard service said on Thursday that it had observed no further increase in Belarusian military activity near the border, but vowed to “remain vigilant” as the country remains a key Russian ally.

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