Foreign Ministry condemns Lukashenko's meeting with Kherson region governor Saldo

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers the meeting between Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko and Kherson region governor Volodymyr Saldo to be a manifestation of his disregard for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is stated in the commentary of the Foreign Ministry.

On Monday, September 15, Lukashenko received Saldo in Minsk. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is convinced that this is another manifestation of gross disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and the entire Ukrainian people.

The ministry added that not only the fact of the meeting is shameful, but also the Belarusian dictator's statements about the occupied part of the Kherson region as a "new region" of Russia, his readiness to help strengthen the occupation regime and develop trade with the occupiers.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded that, according to international law, any transactions with the occupation regimes are null and void and will have only negative consequences for Belarus as a state.

Ukraine reserves the right to respond adequately in order to strengthen sanctions and deepen the international isolation of the Belarusian regime for its illegal actions in violation of numerous resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.

In Ukraine, Lukashenko's delusions that he is a "Soviet man" for whom Ukraine and Kherson region are "also his land" are particularly surprising.

"We remind you that the USSR has been in the dustbin of history for more than three decades. Sooner or later, the two nostalgic unrecognized figures who met in Minsk today will go there as well. Instead, Ukraine has been, is and will be integral within its internationally recognized borders," the Foreign Ministry summarized.

• In November 2023, a court in Odesa found Saldo guilty of high treason and sentenced him in absentia to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property. The assets have already started to be sold.
• In August 2024, he was suspected of stealing almost 3000 tons of Ukrainian grain. In April 2025, Saldo was suspected of seizing the Kherson oil transshipment.