Russia to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Putin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans on Saturday to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus,a warning to the West as it steps up military support for Ukraine.

Putin said the move was triggered by Britain's decision this past week to provide Ukraine with armour-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium. The Russian leader earlier made a false claim that the rounds have nuclear components.

Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for use on the battlefield, unlike more powerful, longer-range strategic nuclear weapons.Russia plans to maintain control over the ones it sendsto Belarus, and construction of storage facilities for them will be completed by July 1, Putin said.

Hedidn't say how many nuclear weapons Russia would keep in Belarus. The U.S. government believes Russia has about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, which include bombs that can be carried by tactical aircraft, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery rounds.

Putin argued that by deploying its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Russia was following the lead of the United States, noting that the U.S. has nuclear weapons based in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.

"We are doing what they have been doing for decades, stationing them in certain allied countries, preparing the launch platforms and training their crews," Putin said. "We are going to do the same thing."

Russia has stored its tactical nuclear weapons at dedicated depots on its territory, and moving part of the arsenal to a storage facility in Belarus would up the ante in the Ukrainian conflict by placing them closer to the Russian aircraft and missiles already stationed there.

Some hawkish commentators in Russia long have urged the Kremlin to put the tactical nuclear weapons close to the missilesto send a signal to the West about the readiness to use them.

Counter to NATO

The U.S. said it would "monitor the implications" of Putin's announcement.

"We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture nor any indications Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said. "We remain committed to the collective defence of the NATO alliance."

Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine had Soviet nuclear weapons stationed on their territory but handed them over to Russia after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Putin said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has long asked for the nuclear weapons as a counter to NATO. Belarus shares borders with three NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and Russia used its territory as a staging ground to send troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

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Putin noted that Russia helped modernize Belarusian military aircraft last year to make them capable of carrying nuclear warheads. He said 10 such planes were ready to go. He said nuclear weapons also could be carried by the Iskander short-range missiles that Russia provided to Belarus last year.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is living in exile, said the agreement to transfer the tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus "underlines the threat to regional security" from Lukashenko's regime.

"Europe won't be safe until Belarus dictator is removed & brought before tribunal to face justice for crimes against our country & Ukraine," Tsikhanouskaya wrote in English on Twitter.

Depleted uranium row

Putin had initially objected to the depleted uranium rounds that Britain promised to ship to Ukraine by making the false claim that they have nuclear components.

He subsequently toned down his languagebut insisted Saturday that the ammunition posed an additional danger to both troops and civilians in Ukraine by leaving a radioactive trace and contaminating agricultural land.

"Those weapons are harmful not just for combatants, but also for the people living in those territories and for the environment," he said.

Putin added that Russia has vast stockpiles of similar ammunition but so far has refrained from using them.

Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process needed to create nuclear weapons. The rounds can't generate a nuclear reaction, but they do emit low levels of radiation. The United Nations nuclear watchdog has warned of the possible dangers of exposure.

Such rounds were developed by the U.S. during the Cold War to destroy Soviet tanks, including the same T-72 tanks that Ukraine now faces in its push to break through a stalemate in the east.

Russia 'largely stalled' in Bakhmut

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the top commander of Ukraine's military said Saturday that his forces were pushing back against Russian troops in the long and grinding battle for the town of Bakhmut, and British military intelligence says Russia appears to be moving to a defensive strategy in Eastern Ukraine.

"The Bakhmut direction is the most difficult. Thanks to the titanic efforts of the defence forces, the situation is being stabilized," Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in a post on the Telegram messaging service, giving a synopsis of a telephone call with Adm. Sir Tony Radakin, Britain's chief of defence staff.

The seven-month fight for Bakhmut, where Russian forces have closed in on three sides, is the longest battle of the war, with Russia deploying both regular soldiers and fighters of the mercenary Wagner Group.

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Russian forces must go through Bakhmut to push deeper into parts of the eastern Donbas region, though Western officials say the capture of the city would have limited impact on the course of the war.

Britain's Defence Ministry said in its latest intelligence update that "Russia's assault on the Donbas town of Bakhmut has largely stalled. This is likely primarily a result of extreme attrition of the Russian force."

Russia is likely shifting its focus toward two other sectors, which "suggests an overall return to a more defensive operational design after inconclusive results from its attempts to conduct a general offensive since January," the British ministry wrote on Twitter.

However, the Ukrainian military cautioned that a change in strategy was not yet clear and that Bakhmut remained Russia's main point of attack for now. A spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said the Russian forces were still hitting the town with artillery and airstrikes, although the number of daily clashes had dropped to fewer than 20, down from 30 to 50 not long ago.