Kyiv deploys forces along Ukraine-Belarus border: Russia's Foreign Ministry

The Ukrainian army has deployed significant forces along the Belarus border, the Russian Foreign Ministry said and also claimed that Kyiv has periodically tried to test the defence capability of the Union State, TASS reported.

"The information that we have and that has been repeatedly voiced in the statements of officials indicates that the Ukrainian army has indeed deployed significant forces along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, periodically trying to probe the defence capability of the Union State in one way or another," Head of the second department of the CIS countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexey Polishchuk said in an interview with TASS.

The diplomat recalled that under these conditions, since October 2022, additional units of the joint Regional Group of Forces have been deployed in Belarus, as per TASS.

Polishchuk stressed that their task is to serve as a deterrent from invading the territory of the Union State and to minimize the risks of infiltration by sabotage and reconnaissance groups.

"We proceed from the fact that the Russian and Belarusian means available in the area are sufficient to repel aggression from the territory of Ukraine or neighbouring NATO countries," Polischuk stressed.

"We hope that the Kyiv regime and their Western curators will have the common sense not to undertake military adventures, the consequences of which for them may be very serious," he added.

Meanwhile, Russia's President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Moscow has sent its first batch of nuclear weapons to Belarus, The Hill reported.

Addressing St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said that the rest of the nuclear weapons should be delivered by the end of the summer.

Russia moves forward with the plan as part of the plan to deploy tactical nuclear bombs in the country bordering Ukraine. "This is a deterrence measure [against] all those who think about Russia and its strategic defeat," he said in response to a question about the use of nuclear weapons in war, according to The Hill.

Last month, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement to formalise the deployment of tactical nuclear missiles in the latter's country.

The Defence ministers of Russia and Belarus, Sergey Shoigu and Viktor Khrenin, respectively signed the documents defining the procedures for storing Russian nuclear weapons at a special facility on Belarusian territory, the Belarusian Defense Ministry reported.