Fears have since risen that Belarus might be part of Russia’s offensive (File)

Kyiv:

Kyiv on Sunday stated Russia was holding Minsk as a “nuclear hostage” after Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to ally Belarus.

“The Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage,” the secretary of Ukraine’s Nationwide Safety and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, wrote on Twitter.

He added that the transfer was “a step in direction of the inner destabilization of the nation”.

On Saturday, Putin stated he and strongman Alexander Lukashenko “agreed” Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Lukashenko, who has been in energy in Belarus for nearly 30 years, is a key Putin ally.

Again in February 2022, Minsk allowed the Kremlin to launch its invasion of Ukraine from his nation’s territory.

Fears have since risen that Belarus might be part of its ally’s offensive, however Lukashenko stated he would achieve this “provided that attacked”.

For Danilov, Putin’s announcement “maximizes the extent of damaging notion and public rejection of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society”.

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