Russia and Belarus have begun a three-day series of nuclear weapons drills in Belarus, sparking fears that Vladimir Putin may be planning an incursion into NATO member states Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. The exercises involve over 64,000 military personnel and more than 7,800 units of equipment, according to the Belarusian Defence Ministry.
The drills, which run until Thursday, aim to 'improve the readiness of the armed forces to use modern means of destruction, including special ammunition'. Belarusian residents have been banned from entering forests near the borders with Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine during the exercises.
War monitoring channel Volya claims that Putin is considering a limited incursion into the Baltic states, rather than a summer offensive in Ukraine's Donbas region. The channel alleges that Putin's goal is to trigger a major crisis within NATO and bring about its fragmentation, rather than start a full-scale war with the alliance.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry condemned the exercises, describing nuclear cooperation between Russia and Belarus as 'an unprecedented challenge to the global security architecture'. It stated that the drills violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by involving a non-nuclear state in preparations linked to the use of nuclear weapons.
Russia used Belarus as a launchpad for its failed offensive against Kyiv and Chernihiv in February 2022, and Minsk has continued to allow Moscow to use its territory for missile and drone strikes against Ukraine.
