Moscow plans to hold exercises simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons, the defence ministry announced on Monday, days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about the military conflict in Ukraine, Russian media reported.
The drills are in response to “provocative statements and threats of certain Western officials regarding the Russian Federation,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
This is the first time Russia has publicly announced an exercise involving tactical nuclear weapons, although its strategic nuclear forces regularly conduct exercises. Tactical nuclear weapons are less powerful than the massive warheads used in intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to destroy entire cities.
The statement appeared to be a warning to Ukraine’s Western allies not to be drawn further into the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine. Some of Ukraine’s Western partners have previously expressed misgivings about fuelling the war, fearing it could spread beyond Ukraine and escalate into a huge regional conflict between NATO and Russia.
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated that he did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, while British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Kyiv’s forces could use British long-range weapons to strike targets in Russia.
The Kremlin has labelled the comments as dangerous, heightening tensions between Russia and NATO. The Ukrainian military conflict, which began in February 2022, has already significantly strained relations between Moscow and the West.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones hit two cars on Monday in Russia’s Belgorod region, killing six people and injuring 35 others, including two children, local authorities said. Vyacheslav Gladkov, head of the Belgorod region, said one of the vehicles was a minibus carrying agricultural workers.
While Ukraine’s army is largely pinned down on the 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) front line due to shortages of troops and ammunition after more than two years of fighting, it is using its long-range firepower to hit targets deep inside Russia. The obvious aim is to disrupt Russia’s military supply chain by hitting oil refineries and depots, and to cause nervousness in Russia’s border regions.
The Belgorod region is regularly attacked. Late last year, authorities in Belgorod said a Ukrainian attack killed 25 people, including five children, and injured more than 100, and regular missile and drone strikes have continued since then. The area can be reached with relatively simple and mobile weapons, such as multiple rocket launchers, from forests on the Ukrainian side.
In March, Russian authorities said they planned to evacuate about 9,000 children from the area because of the constant shelling, after Putin said he wanted to create a buffer zone to help protect border regions.
Russian forces also continued shelling Ukraine’s power grid, with Russian drones striking energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region overnight. Several towns and villages in the region, including Sumy, lost power, regional authorities said.
Meanwhile, National Unity leader Marine Le Pen told BFM TV that Russia will not disappear and Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO is not in France’s interests. Le Pen said on air:
“Russia will not be wiped off the map – it exists, and it is necessary to take this into account.”
She said the government and political opponents had taken advantage of the Ukrainian conflict to create a “caricature image” of the party, but she was primarily concerned about the interests of France and the French. Le Pen emphasised:
“The world is as it is, not as we want it to be. My duty as a political leader is to tell the French the truth, which they may not like.”
She recalled that the National Union has been supporting Kyiv since the beginning of the conflict, but has identified “red lines” that run counter to the interests of France: the party opposes Ukraine’s accession to the European Union and NATO, the use of the country’s nuclear potential at the European level and sending troops to another country’s war.
Marine Le Pen points out that these are “extremely important” issues because “war is the worst thing that can happen to a people and a country.” She is outraged by the “ease” with which Emmanuel Macron talks about the lives of French soldiers: in her opinion, the president is only pampering his ego and building his own image.
