Day 395 since the beginning of the war: Putin has announced the stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus – and apparently receives regular deliveries of drones. All information in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
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Putin: Do not form a military alliance with China
10.04 am: Russia and China do not form a military alliance, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a television interview. The cooperation between the two countries is transparent. The West is building a new axis, not Russia and China, the Kremlin chief claims.
Ukraine: Russia takes Belarus nuclear hostage
10.01 am: According to Ukraine, Russia has taken Belarus as a nuclear hostage. This is what Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, writes on Twitter. The stationing of tactical nuclear weapons is destabilizing Belarus.
London: Russia has received new Iranian drones
8:59 a.m.: According to British intelligence services, Russia has received new drones from Iran for use against Ukraine. After a two-week hiatus, Russia has deployed at least 71 Iranian Shahed-type kamikaze drones against Ukrainian targets since March, the Defense Ministry said in London on Sunday. This indicates that Russia is now receiving regular shipments of “a small number” of Shahed drones from Iran.
There are probably two launch sites for the unmanned missiles: from the Russian region of Bryansk in northeastern Ukraine and from the Krasnodar region in the east. “This allows Russia to attack large areas of Ukraine and reduces flight time to targets in northern Ukraine,” the UK ministry said.
The night: An “extremely dangerous escalation”
Pentagon: Monitoring situation after Putin’s announcement
10:42 p.m.: After Russia announced that it would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the US Department of Defense says it is monitoring the situation. According to the Pentagon, there is no reason to change its own nuclear weapons policy, nor are there any signs that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon. The US President’s Office is also reacting cautiously.
Putin: Russia wants to station nuclear weapons in Belarus
6.40 p.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the former Soviet republic of Belarus. The governments in Moscow and Minsk had agreed on this, Putin told state television on Saturday evening. With such a stationing, Russia does not violate international treaties, the Kremlin chief emphasized. Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for more than a year. Belarus and its ruler Alexander Lukashenko are among Moscow’s closest allies.
Tactical nuclear weapons have a shorter range than ICBMs. This is Russia’s response to tensions with NATO over the course of Putin’s war against Ukraine. Specifically, it is a reaction to the possible delivery of uranium ammunition from Great Britain to Ukraine. The projectiles with depleted uranium have a special impact, for example to destroy tanks.
The Belarusian ruler Lukashenko had long asked for nuclear weapons to be stationed on his territory, Putin said on television. Iskander missile complexes have also been handed over to the neighboring country. The Kremlin chief announced that the construction of a nuclear weapons bay in Belarus will be completed on July 1. There was initially no information from Minsk.
