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Plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus ‘irresponsible’, says Nato; Ukrainian military says Russian attack on Avdiivka is devastating
Hello and welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine – this is Royce Kurmelovs bringing you the latest developments.
Nato has criticised Russia for its “dangerous and irresponsible” nuclear rhetoric after Vladimir Putin said Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Ukraine has reacted to Russia’s plans by calling for an emergency meeting of the UN security council. The head of Ukraine’s national security and defence council has said that the Kremlin has taken Belarus as a “nuclear hostage”. More on that shortly.
The UN Nuclear watching head will not visit Russia this week, but another visit is possible in the future. International Atomic Energy Agency Director announced on Sunday he would visit the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in occupied-Ukraine, but said a visit to Russia was being planned for “somewhat later”.
Zelenskiy said the Croatian government had adopted a programme to treat wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
The number of Russian troops in Belarus has decreased to about 4,000, according to Ukraine. Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service, said there had been 10,000 in January. The majority of those remaining were training, with the rest transferred back to Russia.
Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, has cautioned Belarus against hosting Russian nuclear weapons. “Belarus hosting Russian nuclear weapons would mean an irresponsible escalation and threat to European security. Belarus can still stop it, it is their choice. The EU stands ready to respond with further sanctions.”
The US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Sunday: “We have not seen any indication that he [Putin] has made good on this pledge or moved any nuclear weapons around.”
Three people were reported injured and three residential buildings were damaged after an explosion in the town of Kireyevsk in Russia’s Tula region. Local law enforcement attributed the blast to a Ukrainian Tu-141 Strizh UAV drone “packed with explosives”. None of the people hurt in the blast were believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries, Reuters reported, citing Russian news agencies.
Russia and China are not creating a military alliance, Putin has said in a televised interview broadcast. Putin said the two countries’ military cooperation was transparent, news agencies reported.
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