Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Aim to enable Belarus air force to carry nuclear weapons, says Russian President Putin

Russian forces have established full control over the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, Russia's Interfax new agency cited the defence ministry as saying on Saturday. Ukrainian officials said earlier in the day that their troops had withdrawn from the city after a prolonged battle.

Russia will deliver missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the coming months, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday as he received Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. "In the coming months, we will transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions," Putin said in a broadcast on Russian television at the start of his meeting with Lukashenko in Saint Petersburg.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko discussed the global fertiliser supply situation at a meeting on Saturday. "I would like to talk to you in terms of meeting global market needs," Putin said in footage from the meeting posted on social media by a reporter from state broadcaster Russia 1. Russia and Belarus are major suppliers of fertiliser to the global market, Putin added.

Ukraine said it came under "massive bombardment" Saturday from neighbouring Belarus, a Russian ally not officially involved in the conflict, as clashes were reported in the streets of the eastern city of Lysychansk. Twenty rockets "fired from the territory of Belarus and from the air" targeted the village of Desna in the northern Chernigiv region, Ukraine's northern military command said.

The mayor of Sievierodonetsk said Russian forces had fully occupied the strategic frontline city in eastern Ukraine after weeks of fighting and bombardment. "The city is now under the full occupation of Russia. They are trying to establish their own order, as far as I know they have appointed some kind of commandant," Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said on national television.

Ukraine on Saturday said Russia was aiming to drag its ally Belarus into the war, after reporting that missiles which struck a border region near Kyiv came from Belarusian territory. Twenty rockets fired from Belarusian territory and the air targeted the village of Desna in the northern Chernigiv region at around 05:00 am (0200 GMT) on Saturday, Ukraine's northern military command wrote in a statement on Facebook.

Ukraine on Saturday said Russia was aiming to drag its ally Belarus into the war, after reporting that missiles which struck a border region near Kyiv came from Belarusian territory. Twenty rockets fired from Belarusian territory and the air targeted the village of Desna in the northern Chernigiv region at around 05:00 am (0200 GMT) on Saturday, Ukraine's northern military command wrote in a statement on Facebook.

Russia's protests over the EU giving Ukraine and Moldova candidate status show Moscow's weakness, Ukraine's top diplomat said on Saturday. "After decades of lost policies based on aggression, coercion and lack of respect, all that Russia can do now is to spit threats against other states," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. "All it does is show Russia's weakness."