About 100 Belarusian volunteers died in the battles against the Russian-fascist invaders – head of the Demsil mission in Kyiv Shatilina

“The main motive that pushes Belarusians to defend Ukraine is the defense of Belarus,” Sviatlana Shatilina, head of the mission of the democratic forces in Kyiv, said on KyivFM radio.

“We clearly understand that a free, democratic, pro-European Belarus is impossible without a free, democratic, independent Ukraine. And that the main factor that pushes Belarusians to become volunteers is an ideological factor,” the press service of the United Transitional Cabinet quoted Shatilin as saying.

According to her, “about a hundred” Belarusians died in the battles against Russia.

“And if any Belarusian goes to fight for Ukraine, he automatically receives a term as a terrorist. This is the first. And the second: it is necessary to understand that the death penalty has not been abolished in Belarus. And his relatives, who remain in Belarus, are automatically people whom the guys from the three-letter department can come to,” emphasized the head of the Demsil mission.

“And despite all this, Belarusians do it, and that’s why they are the ones we are proud of, the ones who give us the opportunity to feel like people,” she said.

Shatilina thanked “every Belarusian, every mother” of the volunteers who came to the defense of Ukraine.

“As a mother of a volunteer myself, I clearly understand that you feel how energetically it is not easy to wait for a son from the war. But I am here, in safe conditions, and what does the mother who should be there, in Belarus, feel, realizing that at any minute they can come to her? A low bow, and I would like Ukrainian society to understand that this is exactly what it is, that for us it is a danger in the cube, for sure,” said the head of the mission.

At the same time, according to her, the Belarusian volunteer in Ukraine still has legal and financial problems, “feeling himself in the role of a supplicant, and not in the role of a fighter who fulfills his duty with dignity.” She expressed hope that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “will change this situation”.

On August 10, at the “New Belarus” conference in Warsaw, Demleader Sviatlana Tsikhanovskaya announced the appointment of Sviatlana Shatilina, who replaced Gennady Manko at the head of the mission. Shatilina permanently lives in Ukraine.

There is no accurate information on the number of Belarusian volunteers killed in Ukraine. Earlier, the mass media reported that about 70 Belarusians died in the battles against the Russian Federation.

Source: https://pozirk.online/be/news/165320/

Photo: Funeral in Kyiv of Miroslav Lazouski, who died near Bakhmut in May 2023. – Kalinovsky regiment