Ukraine sends Putin ally dire nuclear warning as fears of new invasion and WW3 explode

Ukraine warned Belarus against launching a military attack on its territory, after Minsk reportedly sent troops to their shared border.

Intelligence reports suggest that Alexander Lukashenko's country is assembling "a significant number of personnel" in the Gomel region close to Ukraine's northern border.

These include special operations forces, weapons, as well as tanks, artillery, multiple launch rocket systems and air defences.

Remnants of the Wagner militia were also said to be among units heading to the region, ostensibly to take part in military exercises.

However, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry cautioned that military drills in the border region posed a "global security threat" due to the close presence of the Chernobyl Power Plant - site of the world's worst nuclear disaster.

Kyiv urged Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin's closest ally in Europe, to not repeat the same "tragic mistakes" of the Russian President and to resist Russian pressure to enter the war.

Belarus had allowed Russian troops to use its territory as a launchpad for their February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry wrote: "We warn Belarusian officials not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscow's pressure, and we urge its armed forces to cease unfriendly actions and withdraw forces away from Ukraine's state border to a distance greater than the firing range of Belarus' systems.

"We emphasise that Ukraine has never taken and is not going to take any unfriendly actions against the Belarusian people.

"We warn that in case of a violation of Ukraine's state border by Belarus, our state will take all necessary measures to exercise the right to self-defence guaranteed by the UN Charter.

"Consequently, all troop concentrations, military facilities, and supply routes in Belarus will become legitimate targets for the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

This came as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky told national TV that his army continues to make small advances in the Kursk region, more than two weeks after it launched its surprise incursion into Russian territory.

He said: "I have just spoken with commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky, and there is an advance of our troops in the Kursk region. From one to three kilometres. Two more settlements were taken under control."

He added that "active actions are underway in one more settlement".

Kyiv claims to have captured almost 500 square miles of Russian territory, along with around 93 settlements.