Kiev, April 5, (dpa/GNA) – Ukraine continued to repel Iranian “kamikaze drones” fired by Russian attackers overnight, as Russia confirmed later on Tuesday that it had delivered nuclear-capable missiles to neighbouring Belarus.
A total of 17 attacks came from the Iranian drones of the type Shahed 136 and 14 drones were shot down, the Ukrainian air force said.
Reports of explosions came from the port city of Odessa on the Black Sea, where authorities reported the destruction of infrastructure, including one business.
According to the Ukrainian military, almost 70 attacks were repelled by Russia, including rocket and artillery attacks.
For its part, Russia announced on Tuesday that it had delivered its nuclear-capable Iskander missile system to Belarus, which has been a strong Russian ally.
“Some of the Belarusian aircraft of the fighter squadrons have been given the opportunity to strike enemy objects with nuclear weapons,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in Moscow on Tuesday.
He also confirmed that the training of Belarusian soldiers in the use of Russian nuclear missiles has begun as planned.
Training is to centre on practical knowledge in the preparation of the missiles, the Belarusian defence ministry said in a statement.
“Furthermore, the crews will study in detail the issues of maintenance and deployment of the Iskander-M tactical nuclear warheads,” it said.
Shoigu asserted that supplying neighbouring Belarus with these weapons was a reaction to Western arms deliveries to Ukraine.
In response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Council demanded that Russia end the forced deportation of Ukrainian children in a resolution adopted in Geneva on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian parliament passed a special sanctions law on Tuesday for Russian and Belarusian citizens.
The UN body also demanded that international human rights experts and humanitarian workers be given access to deported children. It also demanded that deported Ukrainians be returned to their homeland from Russia, calling the deportations as “war crimes.”
The Ukrainian government accuses Moscow of illegally deporting thousands of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. Moscow denies war crimes and stresses that the children were taken to safety before the war.
The UNHRC, in its resolution, backed the International Criminal Court, which in March had issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the deportations.
In Lithuania, the parliament put restrictions on Russians and Belarusians obtaining Lithuanian visas, importing the Ukrainian currency (hryvnia), entering Lithuania and purchasing real estate.
It also suspended the acceptance of applications for residence permits from citizens of the two neighbouring countries.
The new law is to come into force on May 3 and will initially be valid for one year. However, it must first be approved by President Gintanas Nauseda.
It will also include the existing entry restrictions for Russians, which have been regulated separately up to now and which Lithuania, together with Estonia, Latvia and Poland, imposed on many Russians in reaction to Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
GNA