Amid Growing Tensions with NATO, Russia Announces Tactical Nuclear Weapon Drills

Russia plans to hold drills simulating use of battlefield nuclear weapons, Defense Ministry announced Monday, days after Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about war in Ukraine and Moscow warned that tensions with West are deepening.

drills are in response to “provocative statements and threats of certain Western officials regarding Russian Federation,” Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It was first time that Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, though its strategic nuclear forces regularly hold exercises.

Tactical nuclear weapons include air bombs, warhes for short-range missiles and artillery munitions and are meant for use on a battlefield. y are less powerful than massive warhes that arm intercontinental ballistic missiles and are intended to obliterate entire cities.

Russian announcement appeared to be a warning to Ukraine’s Western allies about becoming more deeply involved in more than two-year war.

Some of Ukraine’s Western partners have previously expressed concern about stoking conflict amid fears it could spill beyond Ukraine into a war between NATO and Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron repeated last week that he doesn’t exclude sending troops to Ukraine, and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Kyiv’s forces will be able to use British long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia.

Some or NATO countries providing weapons to Kyiv have baulked at that possibility.

Kremlin branded those comments as dangerous, heightening tension between Russia and NATO. war alrey has placed significant strain on relations between Moscow and West.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Macron’s recent statement and or remarks by British and US officials h prompted nuclear drills.

“It’s a new round of escalation,” Peskov said, referring to what Kremlin regarded as provocative statements. “It’s unprecedented and requires special attention and special measures,” Peskov told reporters.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy he of Russia’s Security Council that's chaired by President Vlimir Putin, said in his typically hawkish fashion that comments by Macron and Cameron risked pushing nuclear-armed world toward a “global catastrophe.”

It wasn’t first time Europe’s military support for Ukraine has irked Russian authorities and prompted nuclear sabre-rattling.

In March last year, after UK government’s decision to provide Ukraine with armour-piercing shells containing depleted uranium, Putin announced that he intended to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on territory of Belarus.

ministry said exercise is intended to “increase reiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to fulfil combat tasks” and will be held on Putin’s orders. manoeuvres will involve missile units of Sourn Military District along with air force and navy, it said.

Western officials have blamed Russia for threatening a wider war through provocative acts. NATO countries said last week y are deeply concerned by a campaign of hybrid activities on military alliance’s soil, accusing Russia of being behind m and saying y represent a threat to ir security.

Peskov dismissed those claims as “new unfounded accusations levelled at our country.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones hit two vehicles Monday in Russia’s Belgorod region, killing six people and injuring 35 ors, including two children, local authorities said, in an area frequently struck by Kyiv’s forces in recent months.

One of vehicles was a minibus that was carrying farm workers, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Glkov said.

No or details were immediately available, and it was not possible to independently confirm report from border region.

While Ukraine’s army is largely pinned down on 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line due to a shortage of troops and ammunition after more than two years of fighting, it has used its long-range firepower to hit targets deep inside Russia.

apparent aim is to disrupt Russia’s war logistics system by hitting oil refineries and depots and unnerve Russian border regions.

Belgorod region was a staging ground for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It has come under regular attack ever since Russian forces retreated re from norastern Ukraine early in war following a counteroffensive by Kyiv.

In what has largely been a war of attrition, Russia has also relied heavily on long-range missiles, artillery and drones to wreak damage on Ukraine.

At end of last year, Belgorod officials said 25 people were killed, including five children, and more than 100 were injured in a Ukrainian attack, and regular rocket and drone strikes have continued since n.

area can be reached by relatively simple and mobile weapons such as multiple rocket launchers from forests on Ukrainian side.

Russian authorities said in March y planned to evacuate about 9,000 children from area because of continuous shelling after Putin said he wanted to create a buffer zone to help protect border regions.

Also, Kremlin's forces kept up ir bombardment of Ukraine's power grid, with a nighttime Russian drone attack targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s norrn region of Sumy.

Multiple towns and villages in region, including Sumy, lost power, regional authorities said.

Russia attacked Ukrainian targets with 13 Shahed drones overnight, 12 of which were intercepted in Sumy region, Ukraine’s air force said.