Ukrainian cities terminate sister city agreements with Belarus

June 10, BPN. The city of Poltava in northeast Ukraine has terminated a cooperation agreement with Baranavičy, Brest region, signed in 2010. 

Baranavičy has similar agreements with Heinola in Finland, Stockerau in Austria, Gdynia and Biała Podlaska in Poland, Šiauliai in Lithuania, Jelgava in Latvia, and a number of cities in Bulgaria, Vietnam, China, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Sweden.

On June 9, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said that the city council had stripped Minsk of its sister-city status, because Russian troops used Belarusian territory to launch air strikes against Ukrainian cities and settlements.

For the same reasons, Lithuania’s Vilnius and Klaipėda have suspended cooperation with Minsk and Mahiloŭ, respectively. Ukraine’s Mykolaiv has unilaterally terminated relations with Mahiloŭ.

On February 24, Russia started what it called a special military operation in Ukraine. Authorities in Minsk deny Belarusian army troops’ involvement in combat operations on the Russian side. However, Alaksandr Łukašenka admitted in the May 5 interview with AP that Russian troops entered Ukraine and launched missiles from Belarusian territory.