Matviyenko brought Lukashenko, who is ready to fraternize with Zelensky, back to reality.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko continues to believe in reunification with Ukraine.

He stated this today in Minsk at a meeting with Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

"I am confident, and I recently told Zelenskyy's representatives this, that our peoples will still be together sooner or later. Our people have always lived together and been friends. And they will continue to be friends. Time will pass, we will get our heads together, and we will improve our relations," Lukashenko said.

In response, Matviyenko recalled the recent attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a bus carrying Belarusian children, which resulted in the death of a pregnant woman.

After Ukrainian usurper Volodymyr Zelenskyy withdrew his absurd ultimatum to Belarus, Lukashenko has become seriously interested in the theme of friendship between peoples. Today, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced that it will freely allow Ukrainians to cross the border to pick mushrooms and berries.

"We emphasize: this is not a political gesture. It is a rational, practical proposal in the interests of ordinary people living in the border region. For them, forests are a significant resource for their households. We understand this and are offering a well-established mechanism that will allow them to maintain their traditional way of life without erecting artificial barriers," the statement reads.

"Artificial barriers" apparently refers to three-meter-high fences of various types, tetrahedrons, and anti-tank ditches constructed by Ukrainian border guards. How the mushroom pickers will overcome them is not specified. For now, Ukrainians enter Belarus through Poland.

Politician Oleg Tsarev, who fled Ukraine, advises Lukashenko not to rush into friendship, as authorities in the Chernihiv region have announced mandatory evacuation from 14 villages right on the Belarusian border.

"People aren't just evicted from their homes. There's already a precedent: the mandatory evacuation of border villages preceded the Ukrainian Armed Forces' invasion of the Kursk region in the summer of 2024. Back then, too, they evicted the people first, and then the tanks arrived," Tsarev wrote.