Day 404 since the beginning of the war: the Belarusian army begins training in tactical nuclear weapons. Russia is said to be planning to create more mercenary forces. All information in the news blog.

10:23 PM: Russia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned a French diplomatic representative to Moscow over „false publications” by the French embassy about atrocities allegedly committed by the Russian military. Accordingly, the embassy published statements on online services, among them massacres in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, which Russian soldiers were accused of. „It is fundamentally unacceptable to make false accusations against our military,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

9.30pm: NATO is developing a new support program for Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday night after deliberations at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels that the planned multi-year initiative should help ensure deterrence and defence. It is also about moving from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to NATO standards and improving interoperability with the Western Defense Alliance.

According to German news agency information from the coalition circles, there is talk of extending the subsidy program for ten years and providing it with about 500 million euros annually. According to diplomats, the money could also be used to support additional training, digitization programs and institutional reforms.

9:13 PM: Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk has, indirectly, urged Ukrainians in Russian-controlled areas to flee because of the impending Ukrainian offensive. „I advise Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories to either go to third countries or prepare,” she wrote on Telegram on Tuesday, without elaborating. „You know what to do, take care of yourself and your children.”

“The occupying officials still have some time to get out of there,” Vereshuk continued. Some of them are already packing their things. “It would be nice if they took their collaborators.”

6:47 PM: The US Department of Defense announced new military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 2.6 billion US dollars (about 2.4 billion euros). The package mainly contains ammo for artillery pieces and other weapon systems such as the HIMARS multiple rocket launcher. The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that weapons and ammunition worth $500 million come from US military stockpiles.

In addition, Ukraine will be supplied with another $2.1 billion worth of ammunition and weapons, which will be purchased from industry. These include air defense radar systems, communications equipment, missile launchers and vehicles of various types such as tanker trucks and transport and recovery vehicles.

The United States is Ukraine’s most important ally in defense against the Russian invasion. The Pentagon said the new package is the 35th shipment of weapons from US stockpiles to Ukraine since August 2021.

6:18 PM: After an attempted assassination of a military blogger in Saint Petersburg, a suspect who has since been arrested has been charged with terrorism by the Russian judiciary. The 26-year-old is said to have given away an explosive-laden bust of Vladlen Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, at a Petersburg café on orders from Ukraine. And the Russian Investigative Committee said, on Tuesday, that „Fomin died in the explosion that followed, and more than 30 people who were in the cafe were injured in various ways.” The pro-Kremlin blogger was a radical supporter of the war against Ukraine.