Donald Tusk has pneumonia. Talks on nuclear sharing with president Duda on May 1 unlikely

"In the coming days, Prime Minister Donald Tusk will limit public activity," his office said in a statement posted on social media platform X. "This is related to diagnosed pneumonia, which requires treatment."

President Andrzej Duda said earlier on Thursday that he had invited Tusk for talks on May 1 about NATO's nuclear sharing arrangements, that is the possibility of nuclear weapons from NATO states being deployed in Poland.

Duda recently reiterated his position that Poland would be ready for such a possibility, prompting Tusk to say he would like a clarification from the president.

"I'm eagerly waiting to meet with President Andrzej Duda, as this is an issue clearly and directly related with Poland's security," the prime minister said on Tuesday.

Tusk also stressed he wanted "to properly understand president's intentions". "I deeply care for Poland's security, so that it is feasibly well armed."

He also said he would like such potential initiatives "to be above all well prepared by people responsible for it and for us to be certain we all want it".

Russia warned Poland on Thursday against potential plans to host U.S. nuclear weapons.

"If they follow the path of further escalation - and this is how the discussions can be assessed, these so far verbal games with nuclear weapons - then a further round of tension will occur," Russian state news agency RIA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.

"And in general, this game is very dangerous, its consequences may be hard to predict," he said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also commented on the potential deployment of NATO's nuclear weapons in Poland. "It feels like Warsaw is maniacally striving to attract even more attention from military planners in the Russian General Staff," she said.

"As you understand, it is not difficult to assume that in the event of the appearance of American nuclear weapons on Polish territory, the corresponding objects would immediately replenish the list of legitimate targets for defeat in the event of a direct military confrontation with NATO," Zakharova added.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday his country was facing grave threats internally and externally that had required it to change its security posture and allow Russia to deploy dozens of tactical nuclear weapons on its territory.

Lukashenko alleged, without providing evidence, that the Belarus opposition planned to seize a district in the west of the country and request support from NATO troops - an assertion dismissed by the opposition as ludicrous.

President Lukashenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has frequently talked up the dangers of an attack by NATO or Ukraine as justification for closer military integration with Russia and for maintaining his defence and security apparatus on a constant state of high alert.

Russia's TASS agency quoted Lukashenko as saying "several dozen" Russian tactical nuclear weapons had been deployed in Belarus under an agreement that he and Putin announced last year - the first time Russia has deployed nuclear missiles in a foreign country since the Soviet era.