Russia plans to hold exercises simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry announced on Monday, days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about the war in Ukraine.
The exercises are a response to “provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials towards the Russian Federation,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
It was the first time Russia had publicly announced exercises involving tactical nuclear weapons, although its strategic nuclear forces regularly carry out exercises. Tactical nuclear weapons have a lower yield compared to massive warheads that arm intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to destroy entire cities.
The announcement appeared to be a warning to Ukraine’s Western allies about becoming more deeply involved in the more than two-year war. Some of Ukraine’s Western partners have already expressed concern about fueling the war, due to fears that it could spread beyond Ukraine and lead to a conflict between NATO and Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron repeated last week that he does not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Kiev’s forces could use long-range British weapons to attack targets inside Russia.
The Kremlin called these comments dangerous, increasing tension between Russia and NATO. The war has already put significant strain on relations between Moscow and the West.
It was not the first time that Europe’s military support for Ukraine angered Russian authorities and provoked nuclear attacks. In March last year, following the UK government’s decision to supply Ukraine with armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium, Putin announced that he intends to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus.
Tactical nuclear weapons include aerial bombs, warheads for short-range missiles, and artillery shells and are intended for battlefield use.
The ministry said the exercise is intended to “increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat tasks” and will be carried out on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. The maneuvers will involve missile units from the Southern Military District, along with the Air Force and Navy, he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones struck two vehicles on Monday in Russia’s Belgorod region, killing six people and wounding 35 others, including two children, local authorities said, in an area frequently hit by Kiev’s forces in recent months.
One of the vehicles was a minibus carrying agricultural workers, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
No other details were immediately available and it was not possible to independently confirm the report from the border region.
Although Ukraine’s army is largely stuck on the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line due to troop and ammunition shortages after more than two years of fighting, it has used its long-range firepower to hit targets deep in from Russia. The apparent aim is to disrupt Russia’s war logistics system, hitting refineries and oil depots, and unnerving Russian border regions.
The Belgorod region was a staging ground for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It has been under regular attack since Russian forces retreated from northeastern Ukraine at the start of the war following a counteroffensive by Kiev.
In what has largely been a war of attrition, Russia has also relied heavily on long-range missiles, artillery and drones to damage Ukraine.
Late last year, authorities in Belgorod said 25 people were killed, including five children, and more than 100 were injured in a Ukrainian attack, and regular rocket and drone attacks have continued since then. The area can be reached using relatively simple and mobile weapons, such as multiple rocket launchers coming from the forests on the Ukrainian side.
Russian authorities said in March they planned to evacuate around 9,000 children from the area due to ongoing shelling, after Putin said he wanted to create a buffer zone to help protect border regions.
Additionally, Kremlin forces continued to bomb Ukraine’s power grid, with a nighttime attack by Russian drones targeting energy infrastructure in the Sumy region of northern Ukraine. 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, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
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