Ukraine war: Putin confirms first nuclear weapons moved to Belarus

BBC ^ | 06/16/2023 | Reuters

[usconservative]

Russia has already stationed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Vladimir Putin says.

Speaking at an economic forum, he said they would only be used if Russia's territory or state was threatened.

The US government says there is no indication the Kremlin plans to use nuclear weapons to attack Ukraine.

"We don't see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after Mr Putin's comments.

Belarus is a key Russian ally and served as a launchpad for Mr Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

The tactical nuclear warheads are less powerful than much of the rest of Russia's nuclear arsenal. Mr Putin said the transfer would be finished by the end of the summer.

[usconservative]

Searched 3 times, didn't see this posted and was surprised.

[rdcbn1]

Things are not going in a positive direction in this conflict. Use of nukes was an ominous but very remote possibility a year ago, now it’s a realistic potential outcome.

[desertsolitaire]

Should the US not waste time in stationing some of its own tactical Nukes in Ukraine as a response? Would the operational control over their use be given to Ukraine Military to speed their effectiveness if situations demanded immediate action?
I wonder if we still have the Davey Crockett system, small atomic artillery or mortar devices?

[rdcbn1]

Should the US not waste time in stationing some of its own tactical Nukes in Ukraine as a response? Would the operational control over their use be given to Ukraine Military to speed their effectiveness if situations demanded immediate action?
I wonder if we still have the Davey Crockett system, small atomic artillery or mortar devices?

---

Uh,.... NO. On all of the above.

Locating American nuclear weapons in Ukraine would be a huge mistake.

[Firehath]

nato attacking Russia

reminds me of

Japan attacking china

[rfp1234]

I hope you’re not one of those people who think ‘tactical’ nuclear war wouldn’t quickly escalate to mass destruction.

[adorno]

Locating American nuclear weapons in Ukraine would be a huge mistake.

There are nukes all over Europe, and on U.S. submarines nearby, so, one more location would not make any difference. Putin is making a big deal out of something that's always been a threat to Russia.

[desertsolitaire]

I don’t say it lightly but what makes it difficult is Russia’s moves going unchecked or responded to tit for tat. Ignoring them is tacitly encouraging bad behavior. Have we no small nukes anymore? Or neutron bombs to kill mainly personnel?
I wonder if fuel air thermobaric bombs have to be dropped or if they could be delivered by bigger drones or on some sort of surface to air missiles that would be ok to delver there?
Trying to be helpful with the suggestions since so much of what we give seems to be delayed and too little too late to be really useful.

[dpetty121263]

Need to put them on Washington DC..where it would do the most good.

[desertsolitaire]

Is there ANYTHING in our arsenals that would qualify as a real “game-changer” in this war?

[desertsolitaire]

On the contrary, I’m reasonably sure it would.
That’s why deploying them in Russia’s face now just might give pause to future further bad behavior on their part. Poker on a bigger scale. Were none of these weapons ever to be used? That seems unlikely, don’t you think?

[usconservative]

Need to put them on Washington DC..where it would do the most good.

Sometimes it's not a good idea to say the quiet part out loud.

This is one of those times.

[henbane]

The hapless Biden/NATO powerplay in Ukraine is beginning to fail.

Now that nuclear weapons are on the move in this NATO/Ukraine/Russia conflict, it's time to dust off those old 1950 atomic bomb shelters.

At least it will give us something to do while Biden & the globalist crazies now set the stage for our incineration.

[Right Brother]

“ Poker on a bigger scale”

Yeah, it’s all just a big game. Fool.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Be careful what you wish for. Brandon and Blinken are HARDLY who you want in the Driver’s Seat if this thing actually goes HOT!

Lord, Help Us! We don’t deserve it, but PLEASE! Not. This.

[GreyFriar]

Davy Crockett nuke was deployed for a very short period, primarily because the folks firing it were in the blast radius when it went off. The US Army never had nuke rounds for its mortars. The smallest artillery nukes were for the 155mm and 8 inch (200mm) artillery pieces. I think we got rid of all those rounds after the Cold War; but I’m not 100% sure of that. I spent several years in the field artillery nuclear surety program, practicing to use them. But we never got to fire a real nuke in training.

[rfp1234]

One reason for Russia to put nukes in Belarus is to deter a Polish / NATO invasion. If the nukes were deployed in Kiev,
that wouldn’t alter Russia’s main goals: holding on to Donbas & Crimea.

Ultimately a stalemate and Cold War II would ensue. Western Ukraine would become a very unstable analogue of West Germany.

Playing nuclear chicken by putting nukes near the front lines won’t work for NATO. Several of its governments would fall instantly.

[budj]

Worst idea ever: "...operational control over their use be given to Ukraine..."

Every US nuke has always been under the direct control of US personnel, and can only be released by the President.

[rdcbn1]

A friend of mine worked on the neutron bomb program. We never moved forward with that project which was a mistake. We are in a very strange position in Ukraine. On one hand, if we directly intervened, the Russians would be in very big trouble. We would have air superiority within days and then we could dismantle Russia's forces in the country in detail at our leisure. Until the Russians responded with nuclear weapons, of course. On the other hand there is very little we can do help the Ukraine. We could have a year ago, but NATO wanted a bitter, bloody and protracted proxy war to wear down and drain the Russian Army with a long conflict. And that's what we got. Had we went for a decisive win at the start of the conflict, things could have been different but that window has closed. The Ukrainian forces were bled and depleted too so there is very little we do to help them turn the tide of this conflict. They have run out of men, they are running out of weapons and they are running out of time. Forget the insanity of thinking there will Ukrainian tanks rumbling down Red Square in Moscow. Forget retaking Crimea. Forget expelling the Russians from the old borders of Ukraine. Now the real deal is how much of Eastern Ukraine is Russia going to keep and how deeply will a permanently neutral Ukraine be disarmed. For every day this thing keeps going the weaker Ukraine becomes, the more depleted and demoralized NATO becomes and the less NATO can support Ukraine. So that means the cease fire line keeps moving West and the less favorable the terms Ukraine must accept to end the conflict.

[MeganC]

“In July 1993, Belarus formally acceded to the NPT, thus becoming the first country to voluntarily denounce the possibility to possess nuclear weapons inherited from the former Soviet Union.”

Well then. Now that Russia has given nukes to Belarus it’s only fitting that the USA should give nukes to Ukraine.