Belarus will use the nuclear weapons Russia has deployed in the country if attacked, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko warned today.
“God forbid I have to make the decision to use these weapons. But I will not hesitate if we are attacked”said Lukashenko during a visit to the Minsk region, quoted by the Belarusian news agency Belta.
Lukashenko, Moscow’s main ally in the war against Ukraine, said Russia’s nuclear weapons soon to be stationed in Belarus were needed “so that no bastard will ever set foot on Belarusian soil again.”
If Belarus is hit, “the reaction will be immediate,” Lukashenko said, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
Lukashenko said it was “unlikely that anyone would want to declare war on a country that has” nuclear weapons.
“Are the Weapons of the Superpowers”he added.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of neighboring Belarus from July 8.
The arms transfer had been the subject of an agreement between Moscow and Minsk in March.
Russia invaded Ukraine to “demilitarize and denazify” the neighboring country, according to the objectives announced by Putin on the day of the operation’s launch, on February 24, 2022.
The conflict plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
The number of civilian and military casualties is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have admitted it will be high.
Ukraine is counting on the support of Western allies, who are supplying Kiev with weapons to fight Russian troops.
The West has also imposed economic sanctions on Russia to try to reduce its ability to finance the war effort.
At the end of September, Putin decreed the annexation of the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporijia to the territory of the Russian Federation, having done the same with Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine and the international community in general do not recognize Russian sovereignty in the five annexed regions.
Kiev has demanded Russian withdrawal from Ukrainian territory as one of the conditions for any peace talks, but Moscow has replied that Ukrainians must accept the new reality.
Source: DN
