Fears have since risen that Belarus might be a part of Russia’s offensive (File)

Kyiv:

Kyiv on Sunday mentioned Russia was holding Minsk as a “nuclear hostage” after Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to ally Belarus.

“The Kremlin took Belarus as a nuclear hostage,” the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, wrote on Twitter.

He added that the transfer was “a step towards the internal destabilization of the country”.

On Saturday, Putin mentioned he and strongman Alexander Lukashenko “agreed” Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Lukashenko, who has been in energy in Belarus for nearly 30 years, is a key Putin ally.

Back in February 2022, Minsk allowed the Kremlin to launch its invasion of Ukraine from his nation’s territory.

Fears have since risen that Belarus might be a part of its ally’s offensive, however Lukashenko mentioned he would achieve this “only if attacked”.

For Danilov, Putin’s announcement “maximizes the level of negative perception and public rejection of Russia and Putin in Belarusian society”.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)