Belarus’ president said on Thursday that Russia is currently in the process of moving nuclear weapons into his country—and that some may have already arrived. Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian strongman and a close ally of Vladimir Putin, said that some nukes “maybe” were already staged in Belarus, The Guardian reported. Hours earlier, the two countries signed an agreement permitting Russia to install nuclear weapons, which could be launched against Ukraine from missiles or planes, in Belarus. Russia has been rattling its nuclear saber since the early days of the invasion, threatening to use the weapons against Ukraine or its Western allies in response to any direct attack on Russian soil. But Lukashenko’s announcement comes at an inflection point in the war, following a costly Russian victory in Bakhmut, an incursion by pro-Ukraine fighters into Russia territory, and in the lead-up to a planned Ukrainian counteroffensive.
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