The number of nuclear warheads ready for launch increased last year, according to a report released today by a Norwegian non-governmental organization.

As of the start of this year, states that have officially declared that they possess nuclear weapons and those that are suspected of possessing them have 9.576 nuclear warheads ready for launch - equivalent to "more than 135.000 bombs like the one dropped on Hiroshima," it said. the report of the Norwegian NGO "Norwegian People's Aid" (Norsk Folkeshjelp).

On Saturday, the Russian president Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin announced that it had reached an agreement with Minsk on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus.

Last year, the total number of nuclear warheads ready for launch rose by 136 due to increases in Russia, China, India, North Korea and Pakistan, the Norwegian organization said in a report.

"This increase is alarming and is a continuation of the trend that started in 2017," said a representative of Norsk Folkesjelp.

The eight countries that have officially announced that they possess nuclear weapons are the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, India and Pakistan, and Israel is believed to possess such weapons.