Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow to station nuclear weapons near Belarus’s western border, envoy says | Ukraine #RussiaUkraine #war #live #Moscow #station #nuclear #weapons #Belaruss #western #border #envoy #Ukraine

Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be moved close to Belarus’ borders with its Nato neighbours, the Russian ambassador to Belarus has said amid tensions between Russia and the west over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Associated Press reports:

Ambassador Boris Gryzlov’s comment followed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s recent statement about plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Russia’s neighbour and ally. The announcement marked another attempt by the Russian leader to dangle the nuclear threat to discourage the west from supporting Ukraine.

Putin has said that construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus will be complete by 1 July and added that Russia has helped modernise Belarusian warplanes to make them capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

The two neighbours have an agreement envisioning close economic, political and military ties. Russia used Belarusian territory as a staging ground for invading Ukraine and has maintained a contingent of troops and weapons there.

Gryzlov, speaking in remarks broadcast late Sunday by Belarusian state television, said the Russian nuclear weapons will be “moved up close to the western border of our union state” but did not give any precise location.

“It will expand our defence capability, and it will be done regardless of all the noise in Europe and the United States,” he said in a reference to western criticism of Putin’s decision.

Belarus shares a 1,250-kilometre border with Nato members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Tactical nuclear weapons, which are intended to destroy enemy troops and weapons on the battlefield, have a relatively short range and a much lower yield compared with nuclear warheads fitted to long-range strategic missiles that are capable of obliterating whole cities.

The deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus would put them closer to potential targets in Ukraine and Nato members in Eastern and Central Europe.

Belarus’ authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko said Friday that some of Russia’s strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed to Belarus along with part of Russia’s tactical nuclear arsenal.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Helen Livingstone and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments as they happen.

Our top story this morning:

Russia’s ambassador to Belarus says Moscow will deploy tactical nuclear weapons close to Belarus’s border with Nato neighbours Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The comment follows Russian president Vladimir Putin’s recent statement about plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

The weapons “will be moved to the western border of our union state and will increase the possibilities to ensure security”, Boris Gryzlov told Belarusian state television. “This will be done despite the noise in Europe and the United States.”

We’ll have more on this stories shortly. In the meantime, here are the key recent developments:

• Prominent pro-war Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky has been killed in a blast at a cafe in central St Petersburg, Russia’s interior ministry has said. Russian media said a bomb was hidden in a statue presented to Tatarsky in a box as a gift. Another 30 people were injured.

• Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has called for Russia to free the detained American journalist Evan Gershkovich in a rare phone call with his Moscow counterpart. The American’s plea was rejected by Sergei Lavrov, who responded by saying that US officials and media outlets must “not make a fuss” or try to politicise the plight of the Wall Street Journal reporter.

• More than three dozen editors of news organisations from across the world have signed a letter condemning Gershkovich’s detention. “Russia is sending the message that journalism within your borders is criminalized and that foreign correspondents seeking to report from Russia do not enjoy the benefits of the rule of law,” says the letter.

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the heavily fought over city of Bakhmut is “especially hot” right now. The comment, in his regular evening address, came as the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that his forces had raised the Russian flag over Bakhmut’s administration building. Prigozhin has issued some premature success claims before and the Guardian could not verify his claim.

• Saudi Arabia and other Opec+ oil producers including Russia have announced further cuts in their production amounting to around 1.16 million barrels per day in a surprise move that analysts said would cause an immediate rise in prices.

• Russia has suffered up to 200,000 casualties in the war in Ukraine but a “significant number” of these are due to “non-combat causes”, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence update. “Other leading causes of non-combat casualties likely include poor weapon handing drills, road traffic accidents and climatic injuries such as hypothermia,” it said.

• Russia plans to form a division of special-purpose submarines that will carry Poseidon nuclear-capable torpedoes as part of the country’s Pacific Fleet by the end of 2024 or first half of 2025, Russia’s Tass news agency has reported.