Belarus
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko calls on Russia and Ukraine to come to the negotiating table and end the war. Lukashenko’s views came during a question and answer session with the Belarusian state news agency Belta. “There are enough problems on both sides, and in general the situation is now in a serious stalemate. No one can do anything and sufficiently strengthen or advance their position,” he said. “They are there face to face, to death, entrenched. People are dying.”
Russian forces have been trying to advance this week on the almost completely destroyed city of Avdijivka in the Donetsk region. According to the White House, the Russians are suffering heavy losses, but the front line across Ukraine has not moved much over the past year despite the Ukrainian months-long counteroffensive with military supplies from the West. Lukashenko, one of Russian President Putin’s closest allies, said Ukraine’s demand for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine’s territory must be addressed at the negotiating table. /ritzau/