Russia has begun deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. This was revealed on Thursday by Belarus’ authoritarian ruler, Alexander Lukashenko.

After a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr Lukashenko stated the number of weapons and their storage locations had been decided.

But Mr Lukashenko did not give details, saying, “I will not talk about the number and the deployment.”

The Belarusian president said Mr Putin made concrete decisions and signed a decree to that effect. According to earlier information, the weapons will be stationed on Poland’s border.

Meanwhile, in another prisoner exchange with Russia, 106 Ukrainian soldiers had been freed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“It is very important that there was no information about many of these 106 people at all – they were considered missing,” Mr Zelensky stated in his nightly address. “But we found them. We brought them back home.”

The soldiers had been fighting in the Bakhmut regions. Among them were officers, soldiers and sergeants, Mr Zelensky added.

Earlier, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak confirmed the long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian troops was underway.

“The counteroffensive has been going on for days,” he said during an interview with Italian television on Wednesday evening.

The adviser also mentioned that Ukraine did not want to attack Russian territory.

Addressing the Italian journalist, he said, “We are using the weapons you gave us to destroy Russian positions in Moscow-occupied territories, Donbas and Crimea included.”

If F-16 fighter jets were delivered, Ukraine’s airspace could “finally” be closed, Mr Podoliak said.

However, the jets are not “miracle weapons,” said U.S. chief of staff Mark Milley on Thursday after a meeting of the international group coordinating arms deliveries to Ukraine.

“Sometimes things get labelled as, you know, ‘this is gonna be the magic weapon’,” said Mr Milley after the Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting.

But, he noted that “there are no magic weapons” – not the F-16s or other weapons.

U.S. President Joe Biden cleared the way for a coalition of allies to supply Ukraine with the jets at the most recent G7 summit of democratic leaders in Japan last week.

He gave the green light for Ukrainian pilots to start being trained on the jets.

(NAN)