May 27, Pozirk. The office of the Belarusian pro-democracy forces in Kyiv symbolizes “centuries-old relations between the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples,” Yevhen Perebyinis, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister said at the opening ceremony yesterday.
The Kyiv office will be the Belarusian opposition’s fourth foreign representation, alongside existing offices in Brussels, Tallinn and Prague.
“We are very close, we even understand each other’s languages without translation,” Perebyinis noted. “It is also very symbolic that Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja conducted her official talks with both the foreign minister and the president in Belarusian and Ukrainian. We didn’t need an interpreter. This testifies not only to our closeness, but also to the fact that we share a common past.”
The diplomat expressed gratitude to all Belarusians who are fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, noting that today Belarus is held “hostage by a totalitarian regime,” while Ukraine continues to defend itself against Russian aggression. The struggle being waged by Ukrainian and Belarusian soldiers today is “a struggle for our common future,” he stressed.
“I am glad that Belarus, the Belarusian representative office, is returning to Ukraine and returning to Kyiv,” Perebyinis said.
Belarusian diplomats abandoned the embassy in Ukraine ahead of the full-scale invasion by Russian troops in February 2022. The diplomatic mission’s premises stand empty. However, the Ukrainian embassy in Minsk continues to operate. Among other things, it is handling the return of Ukrainians from Russian captivity via Belarus.
