MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/. Ukraine’s leadership wouldn't dream of invading Belarus, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.

"Let them try, we are ready for them. No reasonable person, even President [Vladimir] Zelensky, would even think of intruding into Belarus. This would be very painful for them, an absolute nightmare for the Kiev authorities, and would lead to their utter military collapse," he said in an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program on the Rossiya-1 television channel. The video was released by the program’s host Pavel Zarubin on his Telegram channel.

"This is nothing but the inane babble of people with no responsibility," he said. "They can say whatever they want, we will take it in stride. So, whichever way you slice it, it’s not in Ukraine’s interests to invade Belarus <…>."

According to Lukashenko, Belarus keeps minimal channels of communication open with Ukraine to be able to settle humanitarian problems. "We make no secret of maintaining certain contacts with the Ukrainian authorities. These contacts are scarce but make it possible for us and the Russians to exchange POWs. Humanitarian contacts should be maintained. These are normal contacts, we are working together with the Russians in this area," the Belarusian leader added.