By Kontur and AFP | 2024-05-07

MOSCOW -- Russia May 6 announced that its troops stationed near Ukraine would run nuclear weapon drills and threatened to strike UK military targets outside Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the nuclear drills, has upped his nuclear rhetoric since ordering his army into Ukraine in 2022, warning in February there was a "real" risk of nuclear war.

The Defense Ministry gave no date for the exercises but said they would involve the air force, navy and troops stationed near Ukraine.

It said they were aimed at ensuring Russian territorial integrity in the face of Western "threats."

The exercises are in response to what the ministry called "provocative statements and threats from certain Western officials regarding the Russian Federation."

Russia has in recent days hit out at French President Emmanuel Macron for telling The Economist magazine he was "not ruling anything out" in the West's response to the conflict in Ukraine, including sending troops to the country.

It has blasted UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron for saying Kyiv has the right to strike targets inside Russia.

"Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it's defending itself," Cameron said in an interview with Reuters last week.

The announcement of the nuclear drills follows the delivery of US long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine.

'Nuclear blackmail'

"They are talking about the readiness and even the intention of sending armed units to Ukraine -- that is, in fact, to put NATO soldiers in front of Russian troops," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"This is a completely new ratcheting of tension. It is unprecedented and requires special measures," he added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry meanwhile said it had summoned the UK's ambassador in Moscow and warned him that if Ukraine used British weapons to attack Russia, that Moscow could hit UK military targets in Ukraine "and beyond."

It summoned France's envoy after "increasingly belligerent statements" by Paris, following Macron's comments.

Ukrainian forces have been dependent on Western military aid to battle Russia, but NATO has said it will not send troops into Ukraine.

Russia's Defense Ministry said troops from the Southern Military District, which borders Ukraine and includes the occupied Ukrainian territories, will take part in the drills.

"During the exercise, [we will take] a set of measures to practice the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons," it said in a statement.

Non-strategic nuclear weapons, also known as tactical nuclear weapons, are designed for use on the battlefield and can be delivered via missiles.

"This is an example of the kind of irresponsible rhetoric that we've seen from Russia in the past," Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder May 6 told journalists when asked about the announcement. "It's completely inappropriate given the current security situation."

"We do not see anything new here," said Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman. "Nuclear blackmail is a constant practice of Putin's regime."

'Steadfast Defender'

Russia lashed out at NATO's four-month-long military exercises, known as "Steadfast Defender," set to finish at the end of May.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement May 4 that NATO's expansive military exercises close to Russia's borders are proof that the Western alliance is preparing for a potential conflict with Russia.

The transatlantic alliance kicked off Steadfast Defender 24 in January with about 90,000 troops, 50 naval vessels, 80 aircraft and more than 1,100 combat vehicles taking part.

The exercise is designed to simulate the 31-nation alliance's response to an attack from a rival like Russia.

"The alliance will demonstrate its ability to reinforce the Euro-Atlantic area via trans-Atlantic movement of forces from North America," Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said at the start of the exercises.

"Steadfast Defender 2024 will be a clear demonstration of our unity, strength and determination to protect each other, our values and the rules-based international order," he said.

It the largest demonstration of military power NATO has performed in the North Atlantic, Arctic seas and across Europe since the end of the Cold War.