2025

Belarus’ authoritarian president said Thursday that Russia had deployed its latest nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system to the country, a move that comes as talks to end the war in Ukraine have entered a crucial phase.

President Alexander Lukashenko said the Oreshnik, an intermediate range ballistic missile system, arrived in the country on Wednesday and is entering combat duty. He didn’t say how many missiles have been deployed or give any other details.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the Oreshnik will enter combat duty this month but didn’t give any other details. Putin made the statement at a meeting with top Russian military officers, where he warned that Moscow will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands in peace talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end nearly four years of fighting following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Washington’s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Russia previously has deployed tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of its Belarus, whose territory it used to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Lukashenko has earlier said that his country has several dozen Russian tactical nuclear weapons.

Russia first tested a conventionally armed version of the Oreshnik — Russian for hazelnut tree — to strike a Ukrainian factory in November 2024, and Putin has boasted that it’s impossible to intercept. He has warned the West that Russia could use it next against allies of Kyiv that allowed it to strike inside Russia with their longer-range missiles.

The Russian leader has bragged that Oreshnik’s multiple warheads plunge at speeds of up to Mach 10 and can’t be intercepted, and that several of them used in a conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack. Russian state media boasted that it would take the missile only 11 minutes to reach an air base in Poland and 17 minutes to reach NATO headquarters in Brussels. There’s no way to know whether it’s carrying a nuclear or a conventional warhead before it hits the target.

Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow abandoned in 2019.

Putin and Lukashenko have previously said that the Oreshnik will be deployed to Ukraine before the year’s end.

While signing a security pact with Lukashenko in December 2024, Putin said that even with Russia controlling the Oreshniks, Moscow would allow Minsk to select the targets. He noted that if the missiles are used against targets closer to Belarus, they could carry a significantly heavier payload.

In 2024, the Kremlin released a revised nuclear doctrine, noting that any nation’s conventional attack on Russia that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country. The threat was clearly aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

The revised Russian doctrine also placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella.

Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades. His government has been repeatedly sanctioned by the West for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

While maintaining strong ties with Moscow, Lukashenko also has sought a rapprochement with the U.S. On Saturday, Lukashenko freed 123 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, as part of a deal with Washington that lifted U.S. sanctions against the Belarusian potash industries, a key source of export earnings.

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By Daniel Ramos

LA PAZ, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, who took office last month, on Wednesday said his government would remove long-standing fuel subsidies in a bid to shore up public accounts.

“This does not mean abandonment (by the government), it means order, justice; redistribution that’s real, clear and transparent,” he said in a nationwide address.

While Paz said the details of the move would be laid out in a pending government decree, they appeared to apply immediately to the agriculture and business sectors, which the president previously said he would target first.

Paz also said he would open the door to allowing direct diesel imports, as state-run oil company YPFB has struggled to secure supply.

Bolivia froze fuel prices in 2006, with a liter of diesel costing 3.72 bolivianos ($0.5431) and premium gasoline at 3.74 bolivianos. Diesel will now cost 9.80 bolivianos per liter and premium will cost 6.96 bolivianos per liter.

Oil and Gas Minister Mauricio Medinaceli said prices would be fixed for six months, though he did not rule out further adjustments.

Paz has inherited an economy in turmoil and faces tricky negotiations in the legislature to pass reforms that economists say are needed to stabilize the country’s finances.

($1 = 6.8500 bolivianos)

(Reporting by Daniel Ramos; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Thomas Derpinghaus)

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BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are gathering Thursday for a summit aimed at agreeing on a massive loan to cover Ukraine’s military and other financial needs for the next two years.

The leaders will also discuss migration, the bloc’s enlargement policy, trade and economies, but working out how to fund most of the 137 billion euros ($160 billion) the International Monetary Fund says war-ravaged Ukraine needs is top priority.

“It is up to us to choose how we fund Ukraine’s fight. We know the urgency. It is acute. We all feel it. We all see it,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers on the eve of the summit.

European Council President António Costa, who is chairing Thursday’s meeting in Brussels, has vowed to keep leaders negotiating until an agreement is reached, even if it takes days.

Many leaders will press for tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets held in Europe to be used to meet Ukraine’s economic and military needs.

Such a decision has never been made before, and it comes with risks. The European Central Bank has warned that if Europeans appear willing to grab other countries’ money, it could undermine confidence in the euro. Some member nations are also concerned about inviting retaliation from Russia.

Belgium, where most of the frozen assets are held at a financial clearing house, is the main opponent of the plan. It fears that Russia will strike back and would prefer that the bloc borrow the money on international markets.

Last week, the Russian Central Bank sued the Belgian clearing house Euroclear in a Moscow court, raising pressure on Belgium and its European partners ahead of the summit.

Hungary and Slovakia oppose von der Leyen’s plan for a “reparations loan.” Some 90 billion euros ($105 billion) would be lent to Ukraine until Russia ends its war and pays for the damage it has caused over almost four years. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that totals more than 600 billion euros ($700 billion).

The U.K., Canada and Norway would fill the gap beyond the 90 billion euros ($105 billion).

Bulgaria, Italy and Malta also remain to be convinced. In recent weeks, EU envoys have worked to flesh out the details and narrow differences among the 27 member countries. If enough countries object, the plan could be blocked. There is no majority support for a plan B of raising the funds on international markets.

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