Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday March 25 that Russia would deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons in Belarus and that ten planes had already been equipped to be ready to use this kind of weaponry.
Russian officials have repeatedly issued thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine if the conflict escalates significantly. Led since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus borders Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania. The EU announced at the end of February the extension of its sanctions against Belarus for one year because of the repression carried out by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko and its support for the war led by Russia in Ukraine.
The administration of the city of Avdiïvka announced on Monday the evacuation of municipal employees from this locality located on the front in eastern Ukraine and regularly bombarded by Russian forces.
Two killed in bombing in Sloviansk
A Russian bombardment left at least two dead and 29 injured in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the regional governor announced on Monday.
“There are two dead and 29 injured in Sloviansk, administrative buildings and offices have been damaged as well as five buildings and seven houses,” Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Facebook, adding that Russian forces had “hit the center of the city around 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) with two S-300 missiles”.
Ukraine: Evacuation of employees from the city of Avdiivka
“Avdiivka looks more and more like a place taken from post-apocalyptic films (…) Therefore, a difficult decision was made to evacuate (…) municipal workers who at least tried to maintain cleanliness and vitality of the city,” Vitaliy Barabash, head of the local military administration, announced on social media.
Moscow will not change its plans
Russia said on Monday that it would not change its plans to deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons in Belarus, despite widespread criticism from Western countries.
“Of course, such a reaction cannot have any impact on Russia’s plans,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
British tanks soon to be delivered to kyiv
Ukrainian soldiers have completed their training in the UK to learn how to handle the 14 Challenger 2 tanks supplied by London to Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, paving the way for an upcoming delivery of the devices, British Defense announced on Monday .
Ukraine calls for emergency UN meeting against Russia’s ‘nuclear blackmail’
Ukraine called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday March 26 to counter Russia’s “nuclear blackmail” after Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was going to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus.
“Ukraine expects effective actions to counter the Kremlin’s nuclear blackmail from the UK, China, the US and France” as permanent members of the UN Security Council, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement. “We demand that an extraordinary meeting of the United Nations Security Council be convened immediately for this purpose”, he added, also calling on the G7 and the EU to put pressure on Belarus by threatening it with “consequences considerable” if he were to accept the Russian deployment.
Earlier Sunday, the secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council Oleksiï Danilov had estimated that “the Kremlin has (was) taking Belarus as a nuclear hostage” and that the Russian intention represented a “step towards the internal destabilization of the country”, directed since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko.
France condemns Russian intention to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus
France on Sunday condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intention to deploy “tactical” nuclear weapons on the territory of its Belarusian ally, calling on Moscow to show “responsibility” and reverse its decision, according to a statement from the ministry. Foreign Affairs.
“After Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty (Editor’s note: Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty), which led to its disappearance, and the announcement of Russia’s suspension of its participation in the New Start Treaty last February , this agreement represents an additional element of erosion of the international architecture of arms control and strategic stability in Europe”, underlines the spokesperson of the Quai d’Orsay. Paris calls on Russia to “show the responsibility expected of a state with nuclear weapons and to reverse this destabilizing agreement”, she concludes.
Belarus: Washington has “no indication” that Moscow transferred nuclear weapons
The United States has “no indication” that Russia has transferred nuclear weapons to Belarus, or even that President Vladimir Putin intends to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, a senior US official said on Sunday. .
“We have no indication that he kept his commitment or that no nuclear weapons were transferred,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, on CBS. “In fact, we have no indication that he intends to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine,” the spokesman added. He also stressed that nothing at this stage led the United States “to change (their) position in terms of strategic deterrence”.
EU threatens Belarus with new sanctions if it hosts Russian nuclear weapons
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell warned on Sunday that the EU was “ready” to adopt new sanctions against Belarus if this country deployed Russian nuclear weapons on its territory.
“Belarus’ hosting of Russian nuclear weapons would be an irresponsible escalation and a threat to European security. Belarus can still stop this, it’s its choice. The EU stands ready to respond with further sanctions.” , said Josep Borrell on Twitter.
IOC discusses reinstatement of Russians
Pressed to clarify its position, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is discussing on Tuesday a return of Russians and Belarusians to international competitions, a possibility that is causing diplomatic tensions in the run-up to Olympic Games-2024 in Paris, whose qualifications have started for some disciplines.
The suspense concerns the possible lifting of “protective measures” with regard to athletes from Russia and Belarus, that is to say their exclusion from most competitions because – according to the IOC’s argument – the hostility aroused by their presence and the threat it poses to the smooth running of the events. For the Olympic organization, this banishment cannot go on forever: “no athlete should be banned from competition on the sole basis of his passport”, has been hammering the IOC for several months, relying among other things on the opinion of two United Nations experts.
Choirs from around the world sing for peace in Ukraine
Choirs from around the world joined their voices in singing for peace in Ukraine on Sunday, including 300 people in Madrid where the initiative began a year ago after the start of the war launched by Russia.
Under clear blue skies, singers from 46 choirs in the Spanish capital and surrounding towns gathered around the Queen Sofia Museum and began singing at noon. They were relayed by thousands of singers in 80 places in Europe and Latin America, a thousand Ukrainian singers adding their voices to those of choirs from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, from Portugal and Venezuela.
The event, which was broadcast live on YouTube, was organized by Choirs for Peace, an initiative born in Spain a month after the start of the war launched on February 24, 2022.
