Russia’s president Vladimir Putin (R) shakes fingers with Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko throughout a gathering within the Kremlin in Moscow, on September 26, 2025. (Photograph by Ramil Sitdikov / POOL / AFP) (Photograph by RAMIL SITDIKOV/POOL/AFP through Getty Pictures)
POOL/AFP through Getty Pictures
Final week, elected officers, international ministers, and senior authorities representatives from over 40 nations gathered in Belarus for the Third Minsk Worldwide Convention on Eurasian Safety. The 2-day occasion featured speeches from the presidents of Belarus and Serbia, in addition to international ministers from Hungary, Russia, Myanmar, and South Korea. These people highlighted the significance of cooperating on safety and protection points throughout Eurasia. The convention additionally featured panels devoted to arms management and financial safety.
However because the contributors on the occasion highlighted strategies for lowering tensions and conflicts between nations all through Eurasia, the speech delivered by Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenka on the convention was telling. In his deal with on the Third Minsk Worldwide Convention, the Belarusian president claimed that the Russian Federation had saved a few of its nuclear weapons in Belarus. He additionally introduced that Russian intermediate-range ballistic missiles, often known as Oreshniks, had been deployed to Belarus.
“The deployment of those weapons in Belarus is nothing greater than a response to the escalation of the state of affairs [between Russia and Ukraine],” Lukashenka stated in his speech on the convention. “We aren’t threatening anybody [with these capabilities]. We’re merely making certain our safety.”
Following Lukashenka’s presentation on the Third Minsk Worldwide Convention, the Belarusian authorities confirmed that it had acquired Oreshniks from Russia. In its evaluation, the Belarusian authorities additionally estimated that these ballistic missiles could be absolutely operational and positioned on fight responsibility inside Belarus by the top of December.
The arrival of those Oreshniks comes after Belarus and Russia held a four-day army train in September. Often called Zapad-2025, the coaching drills focused on air protection and fight readiness of Belarusian and Russian troopers. A portion of the workouts additionally centered round nuclear weapons coaching, in addition to using different types of army tools. One of many weapons methods featured throughout Zapad-2025 was the Oreshnik.
In response to Lukashenka’s announcement concerning the arrival of Russian ballistic missiles in Belarus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy argued that this might create new safety dangers for Europe. He added that nations bordering Belarus could be susceptible.
Oreshnik missiles have a spread of “5,000 kilometers, [with] a ‘lifeless zone’ of about 700 kilometers,” Zelenskyy said. “So Europeans – particularly these in Japanese Europe, our Baltic colleagues and everybody else – want to concentrate to this. It is very important take note of these dangers.”
These newest developments have positioned the Ukrainian Armed Forces on excessive alert. Because the begin of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Lukashenka has assisted Russian President Vladimir Putin within the battle. All through the course of the conflict, the Belarusian authorities has permitted the Russians to move army weapons and tools from Russia into Belarus, the place they’re then used for the conflict in Ukraine. Russian troops have additionally beforehand stayed in barracks inside Belarus as troops moved via the nation earlier than being deployed to combat in Ukraine. Lastly, throughout the preliminary levels of the Russian Federation’s full-scale army incursion into Ukraine, the Belarusian authorities allowed Russia to conduct missile strikes on Ukraine from Belarusian territory.
Lukashenka, nevertheless, has fallen in need of deploying Belarusian forces to combat within the conflict. In line with a survey performed by Chatham Home, nearly all of Belarusian residents do not support the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, most Belarusians oppose the potential choice of sending troops into Ukraine. Lastly, dozens of senior officers and troopers from the Belarusian army resigned to protest Lukashenka as they oppose supporting Russia throughout the conflict. Consequently, the Belarusian president and his authorities have determined to not ship troops to Ukraine.
Nonetheless, Oreshniks pose a brand new risk to Ukraine. The Russian ballistic missiles have beforehand threatened Ukraine’s protection capabilities throughout the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. When Oreshniks have been first launched in November 2024, the missiles moved via the higher environment, making them troublesome to detect by Ukraine’s air protection methods. The Oreshniks additionally transfer at a number of thousand kilometers per hour, thus posing extra challenges for Ukraine.
Since these ballistic missiles have now been offered to Belarus, this can enhance Russia’s putting capabilities inside Ukraine. Minsk is simply 440 kilometers from Kyiv, whereas Moscow is 1,500 kilometers away from the Ukrainian capital. Given this geography, ought to Russia decide to fireplace Oreshniks on Ukraine from Belarusian territory, this might make the assaults on Ukraine extra lethal because the Russians would be capable to strike Ukraine’s crucial infrastructure extra rapidly. It will additionally give the Ukrainian Armed Forces much less time to react to the potential deployment of those ballistic missiles.
Now, because the Belarusians put together their protection methods with the newly arrived Oreshniks, Ukrainian officers will carefully monitor these developments in Belarus. With the expectation that the missiles will probably be operational in December, Ukraine will doubtless be making ready for any essential precautions in anticipation of a future assault, as a way of uncertainty continues to loom.
