"Yankee," A Belarusian Volunteer: Lukashenko Understands This

• 16.07.2026, 11:23

His power may be at risk.

Will Lukashenko decide to send the army into Ukraine? The TV channel FREEDOM discussed this question with a Belarusian volunteer and member of the special forces unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Igor Yankov (call sign “Yanki”).

— You have to understand that in a direct conflict, if someone goes on the offensive, there won’t be assaults or advances like there used to be. A single drone pilot can take out dozens of people. Therefore, the old way of fighting will be a thing of the past, and I think the military on the other side understands this perfectly well. Lukashenko understands this, too.

If he sends people to open a new front, his territory and his power will be threatened. I think he’s well aware of this, which is why he doesn’t want things to unfold that way. The deeper you allow your ally—the Russian Federation—to penetrate your territory, the more it will take from your country. So the situation looks something like this.

A Criminal Order and the Choice Facing the Belarusian Military

— But there is also the concept of disobeying an order, which carries criminal liability. Could the Belarusian military disobey orders if, for example, something were to happen to Lukashenko or if he were to order them to join Russian forces in one area or another?

— Take an ordinary soldier who is being sent specifically to this new war, and he realizes that it’s a criminal war—and it is a criminal war—why can’t he just desert? He can. But in general, it’s better not to get involved in these conflicts and to understand that the war they’re trying to force upon them is no longer the same war it used to be.