CNN
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Russia will transfer the nuclear-capable Iskander-M missile system to its ally Belarus in the coming months, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.
According to the Kremlin, Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting in St. Petersburg that the missile systems “can use both ballistic and cruise missiles in both conventional and nuclear versions”.
Russia launched a partial offensive on 24 February from the Belarusian region, which borders Ukraine to the north. Throughout the war, Moscow has used Minsk as a satellite base, including many of Russia’s air operations in Ukraine, according For intelligence gathered by NATO surveillance aircraft.
On Saturday, Ukraine claimed that the Russian military had fired multiple missiles from Belarus on the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.
In a transcript of the meeting, Lukashenko expressed his “tension” to Putin, who he alleged are “training to carry nuclear weapons” by the United States and NATO aircraft flights close to the Belarus border.
He asked Putin to consider “a reflective response” to flights or converting Russian fighter jets, currently stationed in Belarus, to “carrying nuclear weapons”.
Putin responded that there is “no need” to match US flights and suggested that Belarus could instead modify its own Su-25 aircraft to be nuclear-capable.
“This modernization should be done in aircraft factories in Russia, but we will agree with you how to do it. And accordingly, start training flight crews, ”said Putin.
According to Jens Defense, the Iskander-M is a Russian-made short-range ballistic missile system that can carry conventional or nuclear warheads with a maximum range of up to 500 kilometers (310 mi).
According to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, the weapon uses both optical and inertial guidance systems to strike its targets, hitting them with multiple warheads such as cluster warheads, vacuum bombs, bunker-busters and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) warheads.
The Iskander-M was first used in 2008 during the Russo-Georgia conflict, when the Russian military used it to hit targets in Ghori, according to the coalition.
CNN has reached out to the Pentagon for comment on Lukashenko’s claims.
The meeting between Russian and Belarusian powerhouses took place a week before the summit in Europe, where the Peace War in Ukraine – entering its fifth month – will be front and center.
The leaders of Japan, Canada, the US, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the European Union and host Germany will meet on Monday for the Group of 7.
US President Joe Biden expected to announce New sanctions and military aid with European allies during his visits to Germany and Spain. Both the G7 and NATO summits will hear from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who continues to appeal for more help from the US and other countries.
During his nightly address on Saturday, Zelensky said “sanctions packages against Russia are not enough” and called on Western partners to provide more “armed aid” to Ukraine.
“Air defense systems – modern systems that our partners have – should not be in training areas or storage facilities, but in Ukraine, where they are now needed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military confirmed on Saturday that it has started using an advanced multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). supplied by US To attack Russian targets. Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzny posted a video he said shows the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, launching its missile at an unspecified location at night.
CNN reported on Thursday that himarsi Arrived in Ukraine citing the country’s Defense Ministry.
on Saturday, Eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsky After months of fierce and bloody fighting, the head of the city’s military administration, Alexander Streich, said, “was completely under Russian occupation.” Severodonetsk was one of the last major Ukrainian strongholds in the region.
Regional military officials said Friday that the last troops in Severodnetsk had been ordered to leave, as it was impossible to defend their position. This effectively ceded the city to Russia and put the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk almost entirely under Russian control.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday that its forces had now controlled the entire left bank of the Siversky Donets, the eastern side of the river and all of the borders of the Luhansk People’s Republic.
Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said that Russian forces “completely liberated the cities of Severodnetsk and Borivsk, the settlements of Voronov and Sirotyne of the Luhansk People’s Republic.”