Belarus and Russia just launched joint tactical nuclear drills — and NATO is watching closely. As Putin escalates after Ukraine’s massive drone strikes on Moscow, Lukashenko is turning Belarus into a frontline nuclear staging ground. Are these exercises just intimidation, or preparation for something far worse? In this video, we break down the drills, the growing threat to NATO, and why Belarus may be more dangerous than ever before. From hypersonic missiles to nuclear brinkmanship, the stakes are rising fast.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Somehow, Alexander Lukashenko has gotten even more insane. Putin's Belarusian puppet has
00:05already been rambling about mobilizing his forces and getting ready for war,
00:09but now nukes are in play. Lukashenko and Putin are cooperating to bring something dark to NATO's
00:16backyard. It's Russia, it's Belarus, it's nuclear weapons. What could possibly go wrong?
00:22A lot, as it turns out, but we'll cover the drills first. On May 18th, Politico,
00:27along with many other outlets, reported that Russia and Belarus had launched
00:31joint drills to practice deploying tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.
00:36The drills felt like they came out of nowhere, as neither country had reported preparing for
00:40anything like this in the weeks and months prior. One day, there was nothing planned. The next day,
00:44Belarus was working with Russia to train its troops on how to launch a nuclear weapon at
00:48an unspecified enemy. These aren't on-off drills either. According to the Belarusian Defense
00:53Ministry, the drills, which began on May 18th, are set to last several weeks and are likely to
00:58escalate in scale over time. In an official statement, the ministry remained somewhat vague
01:03about what it would be doing, stating,
01:05The main focus of this event will be testing readiness to carry out combat missions from
01:09unprepared locations throughout the Republic of Belarus. The primary focus will be on practicing
01:14stealth, movement over significant distances, and conducting calculations for the use of forces and
01:19assets. But Belarus isn't fooling anybody with this sort of generic statement. It's training
01:25to launch tactical nukes. And that is a major concern, not only for its neighbour Ukraine,
01:30but for several countries that are under the NATO umbrella. News Sky reports the details,
01:35noting that the next few weeks will see Belarus launch similar drills covering multiple regions of
01:39the country, and that their main goal is threefold. Test the military's readiness for movement of nuclear
01:44weapons, test their preparation for use, and, perhaps most worryingly of all, test the methods
01:50used to ensure the secrecy of a nuclear weapon deployment, should Belarus decide to go from
01:55drills to a full attack. The drills will apparently give both Belarus and Russia a better idea of how
02:00well tactical nuclear weapons can be transferred across long distances in Belarus, along with how many
02:06soldiers and what equipment will be needed to make such transfers possible. Belarus has already dedicated
02:11a lot of troops to the first stage of the exercise. News Sky reports that 1,500 soldiers are taking
02:17part,
02:17and they'll be using around 200 pieces of equipment, including aircraft.
02:21The one saving grace in all of this is that Russia currently maintains full control over the nuclear
02:26stockpiles being amassed in Belarus. But the danger is that drills like this could allow Belarus to
02:31operate independently, at least in the preparatory stages, to set up for a strike in the future.
02:36If we didn't already know it, then it's official now. Lukashenko has lost his mind.
02:41Once a lapdog to Putin, the Belarusian dictator could have at least claimed in the past that he
02:45was looking out for his people's best interest. He would have been lying, but he could have claimed it.
02:50But now Lukashenko has essentially handed the reins of control over to Putin, allowing his country to
02:55be turned into a complete puppet state, militarily speaking, as well as a staging ground for nuclear
03:00weapons launches. But why now? What has prompted Russia and Belarus to restart the nuclear saber-rattling in
03:06a way we've never really seen before? The answer may lie in something that Ukraine did that has
03:10given Putin a major scare. This unexpected joint exercise seems to have been set up as quickly as
03:16possible after Ukraine conducted the largest ever drone attack that has launched against Moscow and
03:21the surrounding regions. Russia claimed three civilian casualties in that strike. But for Ukraine,
03:26it was all about proving its aerial power and taking out as much military infrastructure in and
03:30around Moscow as possible. By the end of the weekend of strikes, Ukraine had launched around
03:351,300 drones, penetrating Russian air defenses around Moscow several times. Among the damaged
03:41facilities are plants responsible for manufacturing the electronics and microchips used in Russian
03:46missiles, the Moscow oil refinery, and an oil depot in Solnechnogorsk. Ukraine unleashed several drones
03:53during the attacks. They included the FP-1 drone made by Firepoint, which is already well known, along
03:58with the RS-1 BARS, which is a jet-powered drone designed to strike targets hundreds of kilometers away.
04:04The Guardian also reports that Ukraine used a drone that hadn't previously been revealed to the public,
04:08named the BARS-SM Gladiator. That drone signifies the one thing that terrifies Putin more than anything.
04:14Ukraine is getting stronger in the deep-strike aspect of the war. As Moscow burned, Putin and his cronies
04:20would have realized that there are no longer any truly safe places on Russian territory. Ukraine has
04:25grown too powerful. Its long-range weapons can not only reach Moscow, but they can also overcome the dense
04:31air defenses that Russia has packed into the region. Putin, this means that Ukraine is no longer a country
04:36that he can contain. The joint drills in Belarus started immediately after this round of strikes. Putin,
04:41using Lukashenko, is trying to send a message to Ukraine that he's willing to escalate.
04:46But this could still be a threat. After all, it's not as though Russia has only now started to
04:50rattle the nuclear sabre. Thinly-veiled threats about nuclear destruction have been a hallmark of
04:55the Russian invasion of Ukraine, though these threats have always been seen as intimidation
04:59tactics rather than genuine. That perspective has been borne out by over 40 years of fighting and
05:04no tactical nukes deployed. However, we also can't ignore the fact that Russia seems to be preparing
05:09itself for the possibility that it will launch nuclear weapons in the future. Back in November
05:142024, the Kremlin announced Putin had signed a new decree that altered Russia's formal policy on its
05:20use of nuclear weapons. A handful of changes were made via this decree, with the most important being
05:24that Russia could adopt a first-use policy if it felt the use of conventional weapons posed a threat
05:29to Russian sovereignty or territorial integrity. Russia could use every attack that Ukraine has launched
05:34into its territory so far to justify a nuclear strike under this adjusted nuclear policy.
05:39Could the attack on Moscow have been big enough to make Russia consider making first use a reality?
05:45Hopefully not. It's very possible that the joint drills in Belarus are intended to be yet more
05:49threats in response to Ukraine's Moscow strikes, albeit threats that are being made closer to Ukraine's
05:54territory than ever before. Or it could be so much more. There are a lot of things that make these
06:00latest drills more worrying than the standard nuclear threats that Putin is known to spout.
06:04Dangerous precedents are being set. A puppet president is handing yet more control over to his puppet
06:09master. And the reality is that all of this has been a long time in the making, and it could
06:14spell
06:14disaster, not just for Ukraine, but for NATO. These factors change everything. And by the way,
06:21this is The Military Show. We bring you the full picture, not just the headlines. Hit subscribe to ensure
06:26that you always stay ahead of the curve. Let's take a closer look at Belarus and its role in all
06:30of this.
06:31While these joint drills are making headlines, not only because of the surprise factor of them
06:35being launched at all, but also because they are set to be far lengthier than normal. What shouldn't
06:39be a surprise is that Belarus is allowing these drills to happen. Putin has told Lukashenko to jump,
06:44and the lapdog's only question is, how high? The reality is that Russia has been setting up for
06:49something like this for a while. We saw that when Putin transferred some of Russia's Oreshnik
06:54missiles to Belarus toward the end of 2025. Russia hasn't been shy about this deployment.
06:59Footage published by Russia's Defense Ministry on December 30th showcased Oreshnik mobile missile
07:04systems that have been deployed to the forests of Belarus, which in itself was a threat to Ukraine
07:08and NATO. The message was clear. Russia is moving nuclear-capable missiles that Ukraine says
07:14may be capable of traveling at speeds up to Mach 11. The move was just one of many that demonstrate
07:19how Belarus has allowed Russia to use it for its attacks against Ukraine. Belarus served as a
07:24staging ground for tens of thousands of Russian troops for the initial invasion of Ukraine,
07:28the Atlantic Council points out. Apart from the nuclear issues, Belarus has also been accused of
07:33hosting equipment that enables Russia's long-range drones to strike their targets. Plus, Russia is
07:38believed to have set up ammunition depots on Lukashenko's territory, which is yet more preparation
07:43that seems to indicate that Russia intends to use Belarus for something, be that another ground
07:48invasion or an attack that is far more sinister in the future. Belarus for over four years now has
07:54been one of the most important backers of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The nukes that are on its
07:58territory further this backing and can only be seen as something of a reward given to Lukashenko for
08:03being such a good lackey. Russia's nuclear threat as posed via Belarus was also much longer in the making
08:09than these most recent drills suggest. Way back in May 2023, Russia signed a deal with Belarus that
08:15formalized the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Russia claimed
08:20that the step was taken due to rising tensions with the West, and it came on the back of an
08:24announcement that the deal would be formalized, which Putin made the previous March. It wouldn't
08:28take long for nukes to start rolling into Belarus. The first delivery happened in June 2023 as
08:33confirmed by Lukashenko. Seemingly giddy at the prospect of hosting nukes, Lukashenko reportedly
08:39bragged that the warheads Belarus was receiving were three times as powerful as those that the US dropped on
08:44Nagasaki in Hiroshima in 1945. Relatively small in the grand scale of nuclear power in the 21st century,
08:51but more than enough to cause devastation in Ukraine or NATO territory. That was the entire point,
08:56at least back in 2023. A message was being sent by Russia via Belarus. Lukashenko was allowing his
09:02country to be used as a staging ground. Initially, that involved acting as a route through which Russia
09:07could send troops for what was supposed to be a flash invasion of Ukraine. But when Ukraine didn't
09:11crumble as Putin expected, Belarus backed off from being a direct conduit into Ukraine for Russia's
09:16soldiers, likely due to fear over Ukraine retaliating with strikes. That same fear is likely what drove
09:22Lukashenko over the edge, to the point where he is now allowing Russia to use his country as a nuclear
09:26proxy. Fast forward to now and joint nuclear drills are happening. Lukashenko is sending a message,
09:32mess with us and Uncle Putin might let us use nuclear weapons. And that is where all of this could
09:37go
09:37very, very wrong. As worrying as Russia's nuclear threats have been up until this point, there have
09:42always been a certain undercurrent to them. An assumption that Putin was never really serious,
09:46because he knew that Russia launching a nuke would prompt a devastating response from NATO and its
09:51nuclear-capable members. Now a precedent is being set. Dangerous Russian nuclear weapons are being handed
09:57over to a puppet state that could act on Putin's behalf, or even independently, while giving Russia some
10:02shred of plausible deniability that it was involved in a strike that comes from Belarus. We just armed
10:07them with nukes, Putin and his cronies could claim. We had no idea Lukashenko was insane enough to use
10:12them. Belarus's president is being played for a fool, as the Kremlin manipulates him into ceding yet more
10:17of his control to Putin. But before we get to that, let's look at the issue of precedent. It isn't
10:22as
10:22though stationing nuclear weapons in another country is a situation that is unique to Russia and Belarus.
10:27The US does the same thing, albeit with countries that have far more stable leadership structures than
10:31Belarus. According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICANN,
10:36the US has stationed nukes in five other countries, including Italy, Belgium, Germany,
10:41Turkey, and the Netherlands. It has never escaped Putin's notice that all of these nations are within
10:46striking distance of Russia. The US maintains that it has full operational control over these weapons,
10:51meaning that they aren't being launched unless the US says so. But what this means is that there was
10:55already some precedent for what Russia and Belarus are doing right now. Putin and Lukashenko can use that,
11:00if the US does it, like on Russia. The difference, as Ukraine points out,
11:04is that the US isn't staging its nukes in countries that are ruled by crazy authoritarians. Russia is.
11:10Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says,
11:12By turning Belarus into a nuclear staging ground near NATO borders, the Kremlin is de facto
11:16legitimizing the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide and setting a dangerous precedent for
11:21other authoritarian regimes. Such actions must face unequivocal and resolute condemnation from all
11:27states that respect the nuclear nonproliferation regime. The ministry has called for more sanctions
11:32on both Russia and Belarus, along with a substantial increase in support for Ukraine
11:36in the wake of the announcement of the joint nuclear drills. A red line has been crossed,
11:41Ukraine says, and a response is needed to ensure that Russia knows that whatever it plans to use
11:45Belarus to do will get the appropriate response. The question now is how NATO will respond to all of this.
11:51The answer should be to deliver what Ukraine is asking for. Why? Because what's happening in
11:56Belarus right now is as much of a threat to NATO as it is to Ukraine. News Sky points out
12:01that the
12:01scale and scope of the joint exercises held between Russia and Belarus have been increasing over the
12:06last few years. Russia has been modernizing infrastructure and sending ammo to bases in
12:11the Ozypovichy region of Belarus for a while now. That all made sense a year or two ago. Most
12:15Belarusian military exercises took place in the center of the country, which is where the base was located.
12:20But now something has changed. Military exercises in Belarus are now more often taking place in the
12:25northwest, which is far closer to the borders of two NATO nations that can't possibly be comfortable
12:29for the collective defense alliance. Those two nations are Poland and Lithuania. And they'll be
12:34watching what Russia and Belarus are doing during their joint nuclear drills with a massive level of
12:38suspicion. Increased NATO surveillance is already in place across the borders of those two countries,
12:43as well as in Latvia, and Lithuania has put some of its forces on high alert. Clearly,
12:47NATO is worried. Officials from both NATO and the European Union have already blasted Putin
12:52for his decision to station nukes in Belarus. That condemnation was already coming in thick and fast
12:57in 2023 when the European Union's chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, dubbed what Russia is doing as an
13:03irresponsible escalation and threat to European security. Similar concerns have been raised as the
13:08joint drills continue. But Belarus has been dismissive. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already
13:13pointed to what's happening in Belarus as a major threat. Putin's mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov,
13:18responded by claiming that such statements were just attempts to inflame tensions. Right,
13:23because Russia and Belarus holding tactical nuclear weapons drills that threaten Ukraine and NATO is a
13:28de-escalation tactic. All of this brings us back to the man at the center of all of this, not
13:32Putin,
13:33the lapdog Lukashenko. According to News Sky, Lukashenko is all in on the nuclear exercises that are
13:39happening on his territory right now. More are planned for June, the outlet says, and it seems
13:43likely that those exercises will be scaled up to include more aircraft and involve mock launches.
13:48Belarus continues to talk about how all of these exercises are defensive in nature. But it's hard
13:52to take such claims seriously. Belarus isn't being attacked and Belarus is on the side of the
13:57aggressor in the Ukraine war. What Lukashenko means is that Putin has told him that all of this is
14:02necessary. And that's what makes Belarus's dictator so dangerous. Whatever semblance of a spine that he
14:07might have had seems to have disappeared. And all that's left is an insane desire to maintain a grasp
14:12on power that is slipping more and more into Putin's hands. There are some who believe that
14:17Lukashenko will do everything that he can to avoid war. Political strategist Tara Zaharodny tells RBC
14:22Ukraine, Lukashenko is a bandit and a dictator, but not an idiot, as he says that Lukashenko fully
14:28understands that starting any sort of war, nuclear or otherwise, with Ukraine would ruin his country's
14:33economy and erode his grip on power. Zaharodny suggests that what we're seeing from Lukashenko
14:37right now is the imitation of war preparations. That may be the case. But the creep of Russian
14:43influence into Belarus is real. Bit by bit, Putin has succeeded in getting Lukashenko to do whatever
14:48he asks. We saw that during the initial invasion of Ukraine. We saw it again when Russia dressed up
14:53its nuclear deal as being beneficial to Belarus, when the reality was that it made Belarus a target while
14:58allowing Russia to project more power. And we're seeing it once more in the joint nuclear drills.
15:03These drills aren't happening because Lukashenko wants them to happen. Putin is pissed off about
15:07what Ukraine achieved in Moscow, and he's using Belarus to send a message. That's why Lukashenko is
15:12so dangerous to Ukraine right now. His power, at least when it comes to matters of geopolitics or wars,
15:18is non-existent. Putin makes the decisions. Lukashenko just does what he's told. And the insane
15:23thing about all of this is that Lukashenko knows that the joint drills happening now are designed to
15:27ensure that Belarus will be a suitable staging ground for a nuclear weapons launch if, and when,
15:33Putin decides that one is needed. But he's letting the drills happen anyway. One more piece of Belarus
15:38has been handed to Putin, and all that Lukashenko can do is pretend that this is all his idea.
15:44Lukashenko is a puppet, but he is a worrying one. And it's not just due to the nuclear drills happening
15:48on his territory right now. Worrying rhetoric has been coming out of Belarus, suggesting that the
15:53country is gearing up for war. From Kyiv to the Sovolky Gap, the danger is escalating fast.
15:58There are now three dangerous scenarios that could reshape the Ukraine war,
16:02and you can find out about all of them in our video. And if you enjoyed this video,
16:07remember to subscribe to The Military Show so you can keep up with our coverage of the
16:10latest developments in the Ukraine war. And thank you as always for watching.
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