Russia-Ukraine war live: Nato criticises Putin for ‘dangerous’ nuclear rhetoric; Donbas town of Avdiivka ‘post-apocalyptic’

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Ukraine has accused Russia of destabilising Belarus and making its smaller neighbour into “a nuclear hostage”, after Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Moscow has made a deal to station tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.

The country’s opposition leader in exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said the move “grossly contradicts the will of the Belarusian people” and reflected the further subjugation of Belarus under Russian control.

The Russian president’s suggestions that the move would not breach non-proliferation agreements and that it was consistent with similar arrangements that the US has with several of its European allies was given short shrift in Kyiv.

Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, called the deal “a step towards internal destabilisation” of Belarus, and said it maximised what he termed the level of “negative perception and public rejection” of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society.

“The Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage,” he wrote on Twitter.

For more on this story, read the full report by Dan Sabbagh, Sam Jones and Julian Borger.

NATO says Vladimir Putin’s plan to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus “dangerous and irresponsible” and a threat to Russia’s nuclear non-proliferation commitments.

Putin likened his Belarus plan on Saturday to the U.S. stationing its weapons in Europe, insisting Russia would not violate its nuclear non-proliferation promises.

The move, while not unexpected, is one of Russia’s most pronounced nuclear signals yet and a warning to NATO over its military support for Ukraine.

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said on Sunday “Russia’s nuclear rhetoric is dangerous and irresponsible.”

NATO is vigilant and we are closely monitoring the situation. We have not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture that would lead us to adjust our own.”

Putin’s non-proliferation pledge and his description of US weapons deployment overseas were way off the mark, she added.

Russia’s reference to NATO’s nuclear sharing is totally misleading. NATO allies act with full respect of their international commitments. Russia has consistently broken its arms control commitments.

Experts said Russia’s move was significant since it had until now been proud that unlike the United States, it did not deploy nuclear weapons outside its borders. It may be the first time since the mid-1990s that it has done so.

- Reuters

Opening Summary

Hello and welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine – this is Royce Kurmelovs bringing you the latest developments.

Nato has criticised Russia for its “dangerous and irresponsible” nuclear rhetoric after Vladimir Putin said Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Ukraine has reacted to Russia’s plans by calling for an emergency meeting of the UN security council. The head of Ukraine’s national security and defence council has said that the Kremlin has taken Belarus as a “nuclear hostage”. More on that shortly.

Elsewhere, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged Ukrainians to remain engaged in the war, even though fighting has largely been concentrated in the east. Over the last 24 hours, Zelenskiy has met with security services, intelligence and defence to discuss reinforcement and “prepare respective steps”. He also said Ukraine has received €1.5bn in macro-financial assistance from the European Union.

Meanwhile heavy Russian shelling is turning the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka into a “place from post-apocalyptic movies”, according to the city’s military administration head, Vitaliy Barabash. Reuters reported about 2,000 civilians were left in the city that Ukrainian forces said last week could become a “second Bakhmut”. The city’s prewar population numbered 30,000.

In other developments:

• The UN Nuclear watching head will not visit Russia this week, but another visit is possible in the future. International Atomic Energy Agency Director announced on Sunday he would visit the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in occupied-Ukraine, but said a visit to Russia was being planned for “somewhat later”.

• Zelenskiy said the Croatian government had adopted a programme to treat wounded Ukrainian soldiers.

• The number of Russian troops in Belarus has decreased to about 4,000, according to Ukraine. Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service, said there had been 10,000 in January. The majority of those remaining were training, with the rest transferred back to Russia.

• Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, has cautioned Belarus against hosting Russian nuclear weapons. “Belarus hosting Russian nuclear weapons would mean an irresponsible escalation and threat to European security. Belarus can still stop it, it is their choice. The EU stands ready to respond with further sanctions.”

• The US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Sunday: “We have not seen any indication that he [Putin] has made good on this pledge or moved any nuclear weapons around.”

• Three people were reported injured and three residential buildings were damaged after an explosion in the town of Kireyevsk in Russia’s Tula region. Local law enforcement attributed the blast to a Ukrainian Tu-141 Strizh UAV drone “packed with explosives”. None of the people hurt in the blast were believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries, Reuters reported, citing Russian news agencies.

• Russia and China are not creating a military alliance, Putin has said in a televised interview broadcast. Putin said the two countries’ military cooperation was transparent, news agencies reported.