Belarus said on Monday, May 18, that it had begun training to handle Russian nuclear weapons alongside Russian troops. The announcement came from the Belarusian Defense Ministry, and Ukraine answered it within hours.
The ministry’s own description is fairly specific. “During the training, in cooperation with the Russian side, it is planned to practise the delivery of nuclear munitions and their preparation for use,” it said. Both countries sent missile and air units. The man in charge on the Belarusian side is the General Staff chief, who doubles as first deputy defense minister.
What the troops are practicing
Think of it like a fire drill for the hardest job in the arsenal: getting a warhead from storage to a launcher without anyone noticing, then being ready to use it. The ministry said the focus is on stealth, moving over long distances and the calculations needed to employ forces and equipment. Units are also meant to prove they can operate from temporary, unprepared positions anywhere in Belarus.
Minsk called the exercise routine and planned, part of the Union State framework with Russia. It stressed that the drills are not aimed at any other country and pose no security threat in the region.
How Belarus got here
The groundwork goes back three years. Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’s leader, said yes in 2023 to stationing Russian short-range nuclear missiles, a year into the invasion of Ukraine. Moscow announced the deployment in May of that year, and on May 25 the two sides signed agreements covering storage, deployment and operating procedures. Belarus said the transfer was finished by the end of 2023.
The practical upshot is that Belarus holds the delivery systems but not the decision. Vladimir Putin has insisted that Moscow controls use of the missiles, and the agreements leave that authority with Russia. A revised Russian nuclear doctrine, released in 2024, brought Belarus under Moscow’s protection. Minsk already operates Iskander-M and Iskander-K launchers, both able to carry tactical warheads.
It has land borders with Russia and Ukraine, and with three NATO allies.
Kyiv’s reaction
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry attacked the drills and asked Western allies for tougher sanctions on both Moscow and Minsk. “By turning Belarus into its nuclear staging ground near NATO borders, the Kremlin is de facto legitimizing the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide and setting a dangerous precedent for other authoritarian regimes,” it said.
The week before, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned that Moscow wanted to pull Belarus deeper into the war and might be weighing an attack launched from Belarusian soil, against either Ukraine or a NATO state. The Kremlin denied it on Monday.
Sources
- Belarus launches drills involving Russian nuclear weapons (DW)
- Belarus Begins Military Training on Combat Use of Nuclear Weapons with Russian Cooperation (The Defense News)
