Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting in St. Petersburg that the missile systems “can use both ballistic and cruise missiles, in both conventional and nuclear versions,” the Kremlin said.
Ukraine claimed on Saturday that Russian forces fired multiple rockets from Belarus into the Kiev, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.
In a transcript of the meeting, Lukashenko expressed to Putin his “stress” over what he claimed are flights of US and NATO aircraft “training to carry nuclear warheads” close to the border with Belarus.
He asked Putin to consider “a mirrored response” to the flights or converting Russian fighter jets, currently deployed in Belarus, into “warheads”.
Putin replied that “it is not necessary” to match US flights and suggested that Belarus could modify its own Su-25 aircraft to be nuclear-capable instead.
“This modernization should be carried out in aircraft factories in Russia, but we will agree with you how to do it. And accordingly, start training the flight crew,” Putin said.
What is the Iskander-M?
The Iskander-M is a Russian-built short-range ballistic missile system capable of carrying conventional or nuclear warheads with a maximum range of up to 500 kilometers (310 miles), according to Janes Defense.
The weapon uses both optical and inertial guidance systems to hit its targets, hitting them with a range of warheads, such as cluster munitions, vacuum bombs, bunker busters and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) warheads, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
The Iskander-M was first used in 2008 during the Russia-Georgia conflict, when the Russian military used it to hit targets in Gori, the Alliance said.
DailyExpertNews has approached the Pentagon for comment on Lukashenko’s claims.
G7 and NATO Summits
The meeting between the Russian and Belarusian strongmen preceded a week of summits in Europe, which will focus on the protracted war in Ukraine, entering its fifth month.
The leaders of Japan, Canada, the US, the UK, France, Italy, the European Union and host country Germany will meet Monday for the Group of 7.
During his late-night speech on Saturday, Zelensky said that “sanction packages against Russia are not enough” and called on Western partners to provide Ukraine with more “armed aid”.
“The air defense systems – the modern systems that our partners have – should not be in training rooms or storage facilities, but in Ukraine, where they are needed now,” he said.
Fall of Severodonetsk
Regional military officials on Friday said the last troops in Severodonetsk had been ordered to leave because it was impossible to continue to defend their positions. As a result, the city was effectively ceded to Russia and the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk came almost entirely under Russian control.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday its forces are now in control of the entire left bank of the Siverskyi Donets, the eastern side of the river and all the borders of the Luhansk People’s Republic.
Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said that Russian forces “completely liberated the cities of Severodonetsk and Borivske, the settlements of Voronove and Syrotyne from the Luhansk People’s Republic”.
DailyExpertNews’s Kaitlan Collins, Tim Lister and Olga Voitovych reported.