Russia-Ukraine War Live: US and EU Condemn Moscow's Plan to Deploy Nuclear Weapons in Belarus | ukraine

US President Joe Biden has said he has reacted “extremely negatively” to reports of Russia moving forward with its plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, while the European Union condemned the plan.

Reuters reports that EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said:

This is a move that will lead to a very dangerous escalation ahead.

Russia on Thursday signed an agreement with Belarus regarding the storage of warheads, which is due to be completed in more than a month. The Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, later said that some arms transfers had already begun.

Vladimir Putin, left, and Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin on Thursday. Photograph: Getty Images

Borrell said the agreement violated several international agreements.

We call on Russia to abide by these commitments. The Belarusian state is complicit in Russia’s war of illegal and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.

Borrell said that “any attempt to escalate the situation will be met with a strong and coordinated response”.

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Welcome to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s an overview of the latest.

The European Union has condemned Russia’s plan to deploy strategic nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, while US President Joe Biden says Russia has started moving forward with the plan, giving his “extremely negative” response to the report. was the response.

More on that story shortly. In other news:

• Death toll from Russian missile attack on an outpatient clinic in The death toll in the city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine has risen to two and 30 people have been injuredAccording to media reports. President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Russian terrorists once again confirm their status as combatants against everything humane and honest.”

Firefighters work at a medical facility destroyed by Russian airstrikes in Dnipro. Photograph: Vitaly Matokha/AFP/Getty Images

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to visit Finland, Sweden and Norway starting this Monday to deepen cooperation on top national security and economic issues., the US State Department has said. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland has joined NATO, awaiting ratification from Hungary and Turkey in Sweden’s bid to join.

• The deal allowing the safe export of grain and fertilizer from Ukrainian Black Sea ports has not yet started full operationsThe pause came before Russia’s decision last week to extend it, the United Nations said on Friday.

A truck unloads grain at a grain port in Ismail, Ukraine, in April. Photograph: Andrew Kravchenko / AP

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told China’s special envoy Li Hui that there are “serious obstacles” to resuming peace talks., Blaming Ukraine and Western countries. Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, has said that the conflict in Ukraine could last for decades and that talks with Ukraine were impossible as long as Volodymyr Zelensky was in power.

• Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former US President Donald Trump discussed Ukraine And on Thursday the Ukrainian victory was “of vital importance”, a spokesman for Johnson said.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has said in a phone call with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that Russia is open to talks on Ukraine. Lula tweeted that he had reiterated Brazil’s willingness to talk to both sides of the war in Ukraine but declined Putin’s invitation to visit.

• Russia blames Kiev for dozens of attacks on its southern Belgorod region, Its governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the Ukrainian military was responsible for artillery, mortar and drone attacks on the area over 24 hours, but no casualties were reported. In a rare attack on the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, east of Crimea, two drones damaged buildings in the city centre, officials said. In neighboring Rostov region, the governor said a Ukrainian missile was shot down near Morozovsk, where there is a Russian air base.

• Canada will donate 43 AIM-9 missiles to Ukraine To help the country “secure its skies”, National Defense has said. Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said, “Canadian support for Ukraine is unwavering.” The country also said that it welcomed Ukraine’s application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

• Moscow city court will hold a preliminary hearing next Wednesday New criminal case against jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on other charges including inciting extremism.

Alexey Navalny is shown on screen via video link from a penal colony during a court hearing in Moscow in April. Photograph: Yulia Morozova/Reuters

• Russian arms company KalashnikovManufacturer of the world’s most widely used assault rifle, Launching a division for the production of Kamikaze drones – A major weapon used in the Ukraine War.

• Ukraine said it shot down 10 missiles fired by Russia and 25 drones in overnight attacks on the capital Kiev, the city of Dnipro and eastern regions., Officials said on Friday that several drones and missiles hit targets in the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. There was no immediate word of any deaths.

• The city of Donetsk has come under fire from the Ukrainian armyDenis Pushilin, the Russian-imposed leader of the occupied Donetsk region, has said. As a result, he said, one young woman died and another was injured.

• Japan will impose additional sanctions on Russia Chief Cabinet Secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, has said that the country has agreed to step up measures to punish Moscow’s aggression on Ukraine after the Group of Seven (G7) summit last week.