Last week, Trump’s representative John Coale was in Minsk, signifying the Trump administration’s desire to reopen the US embassy there to normalise ties and revive trade. Some Western foreign policy analysts speculate Trump could be looking to exploit President Alexander Lukashenko‘s close ties with Putin to promote a deal to end the war in Ukraine. At least two US military officers – Air Force Lt. Col. Brian Shoupe, a US embassy defence attaché, plus another unidentified officer – were among those observing the “Zapad-2025” war games. Also present was the Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. Trump, who suggested that the drone incursion may have been by mistake, last week lifted sanctions on Belarus’s national airline.