Russia has deployed “several dozen” nuclear warheads in Belarus, the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko said.

Speaking at the 7th session of the National Assembly, Mr Lukashenko also said the risk of military incidents between Minsk and Kyiv were “quite high”.

Russia vetoed a resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) aimed at preventing a nuclear arms race in outer space.

The draft vote was proposed by Japan and the US and called on all states to uphold the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which obligates nations “not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction.”

Thirteen of the UNSC’s members voted in favor, while Russia voted against. China abstained. It comes after US congressman Mike Turner raised concern in Februrary after saying that a “serious national security threat” faced the US.

Sources later disclosed that the threat was connected to an alleged Russian desire “to put a nuclear weapon into space.”

Belarus thwarted a Lithuanian drone attack on its capital city Minsk, the country’s security service claimed. There was no immediate comment from NATO-member Lithuania.

“The State Security Committee, in cooperation with colleagues from other law enforcement agencies, has recently carried out a number of acute security measures, which made it possible to prevent strikes by combat drones from the territory of Lithuania on objects in Minsk and its suburbs,” RIA news agency quoted Belarusian security chief Ivan Tertel as saying.

Belarus is an ally of Russia and allowed Moscow to use its territory to launch its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

French president Emmanuel Macron has called on Europe to create a credible defence strategy that would leave the continent less dependent on the United States.

“We need to build this strategic concept of a credible European defence for ourselves,” Mr Macron said in a keynote speech.

He said he would ask European partners for proposals in the next months and adding that Europe also needed its own capacity in cyberdefence and cybersecurity.

Ukraine is set to increase long-range strikes inside Russia with the help of Western military aid, the UK’s defence chief admitted.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said long-range weapons would help Kyiv shape the war in “much stronger ways” amid the influx of aid.

“As Ukraine gains more capabilities for the long-range fight, its ability to continue deep operations will increasingly become a feature” of the war. They definitely have an effect,” he told the Financial Times.

It comes after US officials said long-range missiles used by Ukraine were “already hitting” Putin’s forces in Crimea under a secret deal secured by Biden earlier this year.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that any talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine were pointless without Russian participation, referring to a conference that Switzerland plans to host in June.

Zakharova also told reporters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s peace formula – which calls for a full withdrawal of Russian forces from all the territory they have captured – does not bring peace closer but prolongs the conflict.

Switzerland announced earlier this month it would host a two-day high-level conference on June 15-16 on achieving peace in Ukraine. Russia has said it will not take part, and the Kremlin has said that the idea of holding peace talks without it was ridiculous.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky met British chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt in Kyiv ant thanked him for the UK’s aid package.

Writing on X, Zelensky said: “I welcomed the UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt and thanked him for the UK’s largest defense aid package, worth half a billion pounds.

“We paid special attention to the sanction policy. It is important to extend restrictive measures against Russia and make the circumvention of sanctions impossible.

“I thank the people, the Government, the prime minister, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom for their support of Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. We highly value our countries’ partnership.”