“A step towards an extremely dangerous escalation.” It is with this formula that the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, condemned the transfer of nuclear weapons from Russia to neighboring Belarus. Announced Thursday by the Belarusian autocrat, Alexander Lukashenko, without confirmation from the Kremlin for the moment, this maneuver was received “extremely negatively” by the American president, Joe Biden, said the White House. Follow the latest developments in the war in Ukraine in our live.
Russian nuclear warheads are on their way to Belarus. It is what Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko saidconfirming an announcement made in March by Vladimir Putin. “The transfer of nuclear charges has begun”he said Friday in a video broadcast on Telegram, without being able to indicate whether the weapons in question were already in his country. Russia, for its part, made no immediate comment.
New toll after the bombing of a hospital in Dnipro. The strike attributed to the Russian army on a clinic in this city left two dead and 32 injured, announced Saturday morning on Telegram (in Ukrainian) the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergei Lysak. Rescue and search operations in the rubble have also ended, the official said.“They stop at nothing. They continue to commit their crimes against civilians every day”he denounced, referring to the Russian army.
Ukraine demands cruise missiles from Germany. Kiev has sent an official request to Berlin for Taurus-type air-to-surface cruise missiles with a range of at least 500 km, the German Defense Ministry told AFP on Saturday. The delivery of this type of weapon, capable of hitting targets far behind the current front line, and in particular on Russian territory, is still a subject of debate within the German government.
A northern European tour for Anthony Blinken. The US Secretary of State plans to visit Sweden, Norway and Finland starting Monday, May 29 to deepen cooperation on national security and economic issues, the US State Department said. In Helsinki, the head of American diplomacy should “to highlight how the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a strategic mistake” states the website of the US State Department (in English). Since this invasion, launched in February 2022, Finland has joined NATO, but the candidacy of its neighbor, Sweden, remains blocked by Hungary and Turkey.