Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that Belarus and Russia have rehearsed nuclear weapons launches during the ongoing Zapad 2025 joint military exercises.
Speaking at an awards ceremony in Minsk, Lukashenko stated that the drills cover “everything,” ranging from small arms to nuclear warheads.
“Starting from shooting from regular small arms to nuclear warheads. Again, we must be able to do all of this. Otherwise, why is it on the territory of Belarus?” he was quoted as saying by the state news agency Belta.
Lukashenko insisted the drills do not pose a threat and noted that Western governments are aware of them. He emphasized that Belarus would act defensively if attacked.
“We are not trying to conquer anyone, because we will not be able to conquer. We understand this perfectly well. There are strong states around us, what can we say? But we are always ready to inflict unacceptable damage if someone sets foot on our land,” he said.
According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, Chief of the General Staff Pavel Muraveiko confirmed that the exercises involve practicing the potential use of non-strategic nuclear weapons and the deployment of the Oreshnik missile system.
The Oreshnik, a Russian-produced intermediate-range ballistic missile, was first used in November 2024, when Moscow said it struck a plant in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in response to Kyiv’s use of Western-supplied long-range weapons against Russian territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last month that a decision on transferring the Oreshnik missile to Belarus would be made by the end of 2025, with preparations for deployment already underway.