Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that his country has received Russian nuclear weapons and would not hesitate to use them if provoked.
“We have got the missiles and bombs from Russia,” Lukashenko told Russian state media, according to The Associated Press, adding, “Not all of them, little by little.”
“God forbid I have to make a decision to use those weapons today, but there would be no hesitation if we face an aggression,” he said in a separate statement Tuesday.
During a meeting with the Lukashenko last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said tactical nuclear weapons would not be deployed to Belarus until storage facilities were ready in early July.
However, the Belarusian president said Tuesday that “everything is ready” and “it could take just a few days for us to get what we had asked for and even a bit more,” the AP reported.
Lukashenko later clarified his comments about having “no hesitation” to use the weapons, noting that he would first consult with Putin.
“Listen, if a war starts, do you think I will look around? I pick up the phone, and wherever he is, he picks it up,” Lukashenko said of the Russian president. “If he calls, I pick it up any time. It’s no problem at all to coordinate launching a strike.”
The weapons transfer comes as Ukraine appears to have finally launched its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces in the war that has now stretched on for 16 months. In a show of force amid the counteroffensive, Kyiv’s NATO allies are holding their largest aerial war games ever this week, according to CNN.