French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated last week that he does not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Kiev's forces will be able to use long-range British weapons range to attack targets inside Russia. Some other NATO countries that provide arms to Kiev have rejected this possibility.
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The Kremlin described the comments as dangerous, raising tensions between Russia and NATO. The war has already put a significant strain on relations between Moscow and the West.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Macron's recent statement and other comments by British and US officials had prompted the nuclear drills.
“It's a new round of escalation,” Peskov said, referring to what the Kremlin considered provocative statements. “It is unprecedented and requires special attention and special measures.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned both the French and British ambassadors. He urged the British ambassador “to think of the inevitable catastrophic consequences of these hostile steps from London.”
A long-range Tu-160 bomber takes off from a base in Russia to patrol the airspace of Belarus. Credit: Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of Russia via AP, File
Sweden's foreign minister, Tobias Billström, said the nuclear exercises “contribute to increasing instability”.
“In the current security situation, Russia's actions can be considered particularly irresponsible and reckless,” Billström told Swedish news agency TT.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's Security Council chaired by Putin, said in typically hawkish fashion that Macron and Cameron's comments risked pushing the nuclear-armed world into a “global catastrophe.”
It was not the first time that Europe's military support for Ukraine had caused nuclear saber rattling. In March 2023, following Britain's decision to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing shells containing depleted uranium, Putin said he intended to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Ukraine's neighbor, Belarus.
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The ministry said the exercise aims to “increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to fulfill combat tasks” and will be carried out on Putin's orders. The maneuvers will include missile units from the Southern Military District along with the air force and navy, he said.
The Russian announcement drew little reaction in Ukraine, where the spokesman for the Military Intelligence Agency, Andrii Yusov, told national television: “Nuclear blackmail is a regular practice of the Putin regime; does not constitute important news”.
Western officials have accused Russia of threatening a wider war through provocative acts. NATO countries said last week they are deeply concerned about a campaign of hybrid activities on the military alliance's soil, accusing Moscow of being behind them and saying they pose a security threat.
Peskov dismissed these claims as “new unfounded accusations in our country.”
Germany said Monday it recalled its ambassador to Russia for a week of consultations in Berlin after an alleged hacking of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones struck two vehicles in Russia's Belgorod region on Monday, killing six people and injuring 35 others, including two children, local authorities said. The area has been hit by Kiev forces in recent months.
One of the vehicles was a minibus carrying farm workers, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
It was not possible to independently confirm the report.
Although Ukraine's military is largely locked on the 1,000-kilometer front line due to troop and ammunition shortages after more than two years of fighting, it has used its firepower for long range to hit targets inside Russia.
In what has largely been a war of attrition, Russia has also relied heavily on long-range missiles, artillery and drones to inflict damage on Ukraine.
Kremlin forces continued their shelling of Ukraine's power grid, with a nighttime attack by Russian drones targeting energy infrastructure in northern Ukraine's Sumy region. Several cities and towns in the region, including Sumy, lost power, regional authorities said.
Russia attacked Ukrainian targets with 13 Shahed drones overnight, 12 of which were intercepted in the Sumy region, Ukraine's air force said.
AP
