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Russia is testing nuclear weapons in response to a possible Western deployment of troops to Ukraine
Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons drills are a response to Western statements about sending troops to Ukrainethe Kremlin announced on Monday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cited comments by French President Emmanuel Macron about possibly sending troops to Ukraine, as well as statements by representatives of the U.K. and U.S. Senate.
Military and other special services are verifying reports of the deployment of the French Foreign Legion in Ukraine, Peskov added.
Peskov also said that a Financial Times report said that Russia was preparing acts of sabotage Europe was “frivolous” and was “unfounded.”
The FT said in a recent report that European intelligence agencies had warned their governments about it Russia planned acts of violent sabotage across the continent while committing to a course of permanent conflict with the West.
Key events
The Pentagon said Monday that AeroVironment Inc’s Switchblade-600 munition is the first weapon publicly confirmed to be part of the Replicator initiative, which aims to rapidly deploy thousands of military drones.
The Switchblade-600 gained notoriety because Ukrainian the military uses it to hit Russian troops.
In an effort to improve the US military’s autonomous unmanned capabilities, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks floated the $1 billion replicator idea in August. The two-year program aims to integrate unmanned aircraft and technological innovation into defense programs at an accelerated pace.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Chinese President Xi Jinping it was essential they coordinate Ukraine.
To read more about the talks between these two leaders, you can follow the reports of our colleagues on Europe blog here:
Russia is testing nuclear weapons in response to a possible Western deployment of troops to Ukraine
Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons drills are a response to Western statements about sending troops to Ukrainethe Kremlin announced on Monday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cited comments by French President Emmanuel Macron about possibly sending troops to Ukraine, as well as statements by representatives of the U.K. and U.S. Senate.
Military and other special services are verifying reports of the deployment of the French Foreign Legion in Ukraine, Peskov added.
Peskov also said that a report by the Financial Times said that Russia was preparing acts of sabotage Europe was “frivolous” and was “unfounded.”
The FT said in a recent report that European intelligence agencies had warned their governments about it Russia planned acts of violent sabotage across the continent while committing to a course of permanent conflict with the West.
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were poised to press Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday to reduce trade imbalances and use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine.
You were inside Europe for the first time in five years, at a time of rising trade tensions, with the European Union investigating several Chinese industries, including electric vehicle exports, while Beijing is investigating mostly French brandy imports.
France is hoping to push China to pressure Moscow to halt operations in Ukraine, with little progress except for Xi’s decision to call President Volodymyr Zelenskyi for the first time shortly after Macron’s visit to Beijing last year.
Electricity has been partially restored in the city of Sumy after a Russian drone attack knocked out power to 400,000 customers overnight, local authorities said.
Work to restore electricity continued in the morning as 91 settlements out of 1,325 affected remained without electricity in the region, national grid operator Ukrenergo said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Electricity has been restored in the affected settlements and parts of the city of Sumy,” the region’s military administration said on Telegram.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 13 attack drones against Ukraine. Air defense systems shot down 12 of the air weapons over the Sumy region.
Russia will practice using nuclear weapons
Russia has said it will hold a military exercise that will include practice using the tactical nuclear weapons, reports Reuters. It comes after what the Ministry of Defense said were provocative threats by Western officials.
The Ministry of Defense announced that the exercise was commissioned by President Vladimir Putin and will test the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions.
The military exercises will include preparation and deployment exercises for the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, the defense ministry said. Missile formations in the Southern Military District and the Navy will participate.
“During the exercise, a set of measures will be implemented to work out the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the Ministry of Defense said. Russia has the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.
The exercise is aimed at ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Russia “in response to provocative statements and threats from certain western officials against the Russian Federation,” the ministry announced.
In other developments:
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A Russian drone attack overnight knocked out power to more than 400,000 consumers in Ukraine northeastern region of Sumy on Monday, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said in a statement via the Telegram messaging app.
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A Ukrainian drone strike hit vehicles carrying workers on the Russian border Belgorod region, killing six people and injuring 35, the governor said Monday. Belgorod has been the target of an increasing number of fatal Ukrainian attacks in recent months, and Monday’s bombing was the deadliest in weeks.
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Ukraine will be one of the main items on the agenda as the Premier of China, Xi Jinping, visits France. French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to urge him to use his influence in Russia.
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Italy’s defense minister said on Monday that economic sanctions against Russia had failed and urged the West to try harder to negotiate diplomatic solution with Putin to end the war Ukraine. Guido Crosetto told the daily Il Messaggero that the West mistakenly believed its sanctions could stop Russia’s aggression, but overestimated its economic influence in the world. “Instead … the only way to resolve this crisis is to get everyone involved, first (to achieve) a truce and then peace,” Crosetto said.
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