Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry demands UN Security Council convenes, warns Belarus about consequences of hosting Russian nuclear weapons 

This is stated in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Russia’s latest statement regarding the intention to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is another provocative step by the criminal Putin regime which undermines the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons principles, the architecture of nuclear disarmament, and the international security system as a whole," the statement reads.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs appeals to Belarusian society to prevent Russia from committing crimes on its territory, as this will further turn the country into Moscow's hostage and have catastrophic consequences in the future.

"We appeal to the G7 and the European Union countries to warn the Belarusian authorities about the far-reaching consequences for Belarus if it agrees to accept tactical nuclear weapons from Russia on its territory," the statement says.

The Ministry expects effective counteraction to nuclear blackmail of the Russian Federation by Great Britain, China, the United States and France, in particular the permanent members of the UN Security Council, who bear special responsibility for preventing threats of aggression with the use of nuclear weapons.

"We demand to immediately convene an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council for this purpose. Ukraine calls on all members of the international community to prove to the criminal Putin regime the unacceptability of its nuclear provocations and to take decisive measures to effectively deter and prevent any possibility of the use of nuclear weapons by the aggressor state," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

• Vladimir Putin said that by July 1 a storage facility for Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be finished in Belarus.

• The Institute for the Study of War reported that Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in order to scare the West and reduce the effectiveness of Ukraine's counteroffensive.

• Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said that the placement of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus increases Putin’s unpopularity in Belarusian society.

• The German Foreign Ministry criticized Russia's placement of nuclear weapons in Belarus and called it "an intimidation attempt"