Russia has reached an agreement with neighboring Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory, the TASS news agency quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying on Saturday. Such a move would not violate nuclear non-proliferation agreements, Putin said, adding that the United States had deployed nuclear weapons on the territory of European allies. The US Department of Defense said on Saturday after Moscow’s announcement that there was no evidence that Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons.
Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar urged Ukrainians on Facebook not to openly discuss details about the country’s upcoming offensive. “Don’t ask expert questions on live broadcasts [in the vein of] ‘how is the counter-offensive going?’, do not write blogs or posts on this topic and do not publicly discuss military plans of our army at all. We have a strategic plan – to liberate all our territories. And as for the details – that’s just a military secret,” Maliar wrote.
The head of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant next week to assess the serious safety situation there, the IAEA said. Rafael Grossi said in a statement that the nuclear safety threats at the Russian-held facility were “all too obvious”.
Russia fired on a humanitarian aid delivery point in the city of Kherson on Saturday, wounding two civilians, according to the Ukrainian military. Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration, said: “Russian occupiers continue to shell the places where civilians are being aided.”
The Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s military said his forces are pushing back against Russian troops in the long and fierce battle for the city of Bakhmut. Separately, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said the month-long Russian assault on the city had stalled, largely due to heavy troop losses. British military intelligence also said Russia appears to be moving to a defensive strategy in eastern Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.
Russian oil company Gazprom reduced gas exports to the EU through Ukraine by 15%, reports the Kyiv Independent. On March 24, Gazprom recorded a gas transit flow of 42.5 million cubic meters. A day later, the volume decreased to 36.2 million cubic meters.
US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have shown a united front against authoritarian regimes as Biden visited the Canadian capital days after a summit of Chinese and Russian leaders in Moscow. Portal reported that images of Biden and Trudeau standing side by side in Ottawa on Friday announcing deals including on semiconductors and migration provided a counterpoint to the scene in Moscow days earlier.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called Putin and thanked him for his “positive attitude” on the extension of the Black Sea Grains Agreement, the Turkish presidency said on Saturday. The two leaders were said to have discussed steps to improve Turkey-Russia relations and developments related to the war in Ukraine, and Erdoğan had expressed the importance of ending the conflict through negotiations as soon as possible, Portal reported.
More than 5,000 former criminals have been pardoned after ending their contracts to fight in Russia’s Wagner mercenary group against Ukraine, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday. The Wagner group, originally made up of battle-hardened veterans of the Russian armed forces, took on a much more prominent role in the Ukraine war after the Russian army suffered a series of humiliating defeats last year, Portal reported.
The United Nations said it was “deeply concerned” by the alleged executions of prisoners of war by Russian and Ukrainian forces on the battlefield. A new report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says its observers have documented dozens of executions by both sides, the actual number is likely higher and they “could constitute war crimes”.
Police in Russia have put a former Vladimir Putin speechwriter on a wanted list of suspects, the latest step in a sweeping crackdown on dissidents. The Associated Press reports that Abbas Gallyamov wrote speeches for Putin during the Russian leader’s tenure as prime minister from 2008 to 2012. Gallyamov later became an outspoken political advisor and analyst, frequently quoted by Russian and foreign media. He has lived abroad in recent years.
The speaker of the Russian parliament has proposed to ban the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and accused him of war crimes. Vyacheslav Volodin, a Putin ally, said Saturday that Russian legislation should be changed to ban all ICC activity in Russia and punish anyone who provides “aid and assistance” to the court.