Ukraine weighs criminal case against Belarusian leader Lukashenko

The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has formally requested that the Prosecutor General's Office review the possibility of launching a criminal case against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Mariana Haievska-Kovbasiuk, a spokesperson for the Prosecutor General's Office, confirmed the request to Ukrinform, Ukraine's state news agency.

The move follows an appeal from Belarusian democratic opposition forces. The Forum of Democratic Forces of Belarus, an organization co-founded by former presidential candidate Valery Tsepkalo, urged Kyiv to give a legal assessment of Lukashenko's role in Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Tsepkalo and his associates initiated the request.

On July 28, the forum's Telegram channel published a letter from Zelensky's office, saying the request to open a criminal case against Lukashenko had been forwarded to Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office. The letter did not specify any further steps, and the Prosecutor General's Office has not yet announced a decision on the matter.