Russia tests nuclear weapons in response to possible deployment of Western troops | War in Ukraine

Russia said this Monday that it will begin nuclear tests in response to “provocative” statements by representatives of Western countries. Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov told Financial Times that comments suggesting the sending of soldiers to Ukraine, such as those made by French President, Emmanuel Macron, provoked this reaction from Russia.

According to Reuters, the Russian Ministry of Defense added that the tests were ordered by Vladimir Putin with the aim of testing the effectiveness of non-strategic nuclear forces in combat missions in the Southern Military District of Russia, in a region close to Ukraine. . The air and naval forces of the military district will also participate in the tests.

Macron, in an interview published in the magazine The Economistlast week, did not rule out the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine if asked.

“If the Russians were able to break through the front lines if there was a Ukrainian request, which is not the case currently, we would legitimately have to raise this question,” he said.

Responding to the Kremlin’s announcement, Ukrainian intelligence agency spokesman Andriy Yusov stated that Kiev sees “nothing new” in “nuclear blackmail, a constant practice of the Putin regime.

Ukraine attacks Belgorod

The announcement of Russian nuclear tests was made hours after Ukraine carried out an air strike on the border region of Belgorod, Russia, killing seven people and injuring at least 35 people, according to the BBC.

According to the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, cited by the British broadcaster, the attack was carried out using drones and hit two buses carrying workers from a meat processing plant on their way to work.

This was the deadliest attack in the Russian region since December last year, when 25 people died in a Ukrainian bombing. The Belgorod region has been the target of Ukrainian attacks since the first months of the war, with the first confirmed attack taking place in March 2022.