Belarus has begun drills involving missile troops and air force units assigned to nuclear weapons operations, according to the defense ministry.
2:07 PM
Belarus has kicked off a military exercise focused on the combat use of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons logistical support, involving missile troops and the Air Force, the Belarusian Defense Ministry reported on May 18.
The exercise is being conducted under the direction of the chief of the General Staff and first deputy defense minister of Belarus. According to the ministry's statement, the drills are designed to raise the preparedness of armed forces for the use of advanced means of destruction, including special munitions.
A key feature of the exercise is to check the preparedness of troops for accomplishing tasks of combat use from unprepared areas across the entire territory of the republic, officials said.
Ukrainian officials have characterized the exercises as part of a broader Russian strategy. Andrii Veselovskyi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Adviser to the Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, told Ukrinform that the demonstrative military and nuclear exercises in Belarus are part of Russia's strategy to create an additional threat to Ukraine in order to force it to redeploy forces to the northern direction ahead of a planned Russian summer offensive on the main front.
According to Veselovskyi, Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing a major summer offensive. As part of this preparation, offensive operations are being conducted along the entire front line to identify potentially weakest points in Ukraine's defenses, in order to redirect additional reserves there to break through the front. Veselovskyi stated that an objective has been set to break through the front in the summer in order to significantly change the situation on the battlefield by autumn.
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement characterizing the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and joint nuclear drills by the two countries as an unprecedented challenge to the global security architecture. The ministry recalled that the joint practice of conducting strikes directly violates key Articles I and II of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which strictly prohibit nuclear-weapon states from transferring control over weapons of mass destruction technology and non-nuclear-weapon signatories from receiving it.
The Foreign Ministry stated that by turning Belarus into a nuclear staging ground near NATO borders, the Kremlin is de facto legitimizing the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide and setting a dangerous precedent for other authoritarian regimes.
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