Moscow plans to hold exercises simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday.
These exercises are a response to “provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation”, we can read in a press release from the ministry.
Tactical nuclear weapons include aerial bombs, short-range missile warheads and artillery munitions and are intended for use on the battlefield.
The country regularly carries out this type of exercise, but this is the first time it has announced it publicly. Tactical nuclear weapons have a lower yield than the massive warheads that equip intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of wiping out entire cities.
The announcement appears to be a warning to Ukraine’s allies. Some of Kyiv’s Western partners have already expressed concern about fueling this war, with the risk that it could spill beyond Ukraine’s borders and result in open conflict between NATO and Russia. Russia.
This announcement also comes at a time when the Russian region of Belgorod was struck by drones belonging to the Ukrainian army, leaving at least six dead and thirty-five injured. Faced with repeated attacks, local authorities declared in March that they planned to evacuate around nine thousand children from the region to shelter them.