Putin, Lukashenko Oversee Joint Russia-Belarus Nuclear Drills

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko participated via video conference in a joint nuclear forces exercise, the Kremlin announced Thursday.

Senior military officials, including defense ministers from both countries, have conducted such exercises quarterly, but Thursday marked the first time the two presidents directly took part, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Opening the meeting, broadcast live on the Kremlin’s website, Putin emphasized that nuclear weapons use remains “an extreme and exceptional measure for ensuring the national security” of both nations.

“Today, as part of the exercises, we are conducting the first joint training of the armies of Russia and Belarus on managing strategic and tactical nuclear forces,” Putin said.

Putin added that the Russian-Belarusian nuclear triad – weapons deployable by land, sea and air – must continue to serve as “a reliable guarantor of the sovereignty of the Union State of Russia and Belarus” amid rising global tensions.

According to Putin, the drills aim to practice coordination and interaction among military officials in the event of nuclear weapons use, including weapons stationed in Belarus.

Lukashenko described the joint drills as part of routine military coordination between the two countries.

“We absolutely threaten no one. But we have such weapons, and we are ready in every possible way to defend our common fatherland from Brest to Vladivostok,” Lukashenko said.

The Belarusian leader stressed the exercises are defensive in nature and represent “the only demonstration from our side,” adding that nations with such capabilities “must know how to use them.”

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces launched a Yars ballistic missile and a Zircon hypersonic missile during the nuclear drills.

The crew of a nuclear-powered submarine launched a Sineva intercontinental ballistic missile from a submerged position, the ministry said. The Russian military also fired a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome toward a testing range in Kamchatka.

In Belarus, a combat crew conducted a practical launch of a ballistic missile from an Iskander-M system at the Kapustin Yar testing range, the ministry said. The exercises also involved Tu-95MS strategic bombers launching hypersonic cruise missiles and a MiG-31 firing a Kinzhal hypersonic missile.

The joint drills, held from Tuesday to Thursday, drew concern from Ukraine and its NATO allies. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of planning a new attack from Belarus.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said Thursday its units and the army were “carrying out a comprehensive set of enhanced security measures in the northern regions of our country” bordering Belarus.

The measures, including stepped-up checks of individuals and properties, “will serve as an effective deterrent to any aggressive actions or operations by the enemy and its ally,” the SBU said.

Separately Thursday, a Ukrainian drone attack on a town in Russia’s Bryansk border region killed three rail workers when it struck a locomotive at a station, Russia’s state RZhD rail network said.

Russian border towns and villages regularly come under Ukrainian fire as Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine continues into a fifth year.

“[On Thursday,] a shunting locomotive came under drone attack at the Unecha station in the Bryansk region,” the network said. It identified the dead as a driver, an assistant driver and his repairman son.

Earlier this week, Ukraine launched what Russian officials described as one of the largest drone barrages of the war toward Moscow, killing at least five people.

NATO foreign ministers were scheduled to meet in Helsingborg, Sweden, on Thursday and Friday to discuss ensuring support for Ukraine remains substantial and sustainable long-term.