Fears have grown in recent months that Vladimir Putin could use nuclear weapons amid military setbacks in Ukraine.
Putin has continuously warned that Russia has the right to protect itself through all the weapons in its arsenal, which includes the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.
However, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said today that he does not want Russian President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons.
“My non-public opinion is that Putin will use nuclear bombs,” Reznikov asked about the issue at a news conference.
The comments come as Vladimir Putin oversees a nuclear training through Russian forces.
The training had been planned for some time and the United States had been informed in advance.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Mr Putin had overseen the exercise, which he said was being conducted to exercise a “massive nuclear strike in reaction to an enemy nuclear attack”.
This aerial view destroyed buildings used by Russian troops as headquarters in Balakliia, which is located in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine.
The largest city in Ukraine at the time, Kharkiv, was retaken by Ukrainian troops in their counteroffensive.
However, the region continued to be hit by bombing and missile fire by Russian forces.
Today, the Kremlin left the door open for talks about an imaginable exchange involving American basketball star Brittney Griner, but said such talks deserve to be kept strictly confidential.
Yesterday, a Russian court rejected Griner’s appeal against his nine-year sentence for drug possession.
Griner, an eight-time midfielder with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was sentenced Aug. 4 after police said they discovered vaping cartridges containing hash oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.
At his trial, Griner admitted to having the cans in his luggage, testified that he packed them inadvertently in his rush to board his flight, and that he had no intention of scamming.
His defense team also submitted written statements that he had been prescribed hashish to treat chronic pain.
Asked if Griner could be released as part of a prisoner swap with Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call with reporters that “we always say that any contact related to imaginable exchanges can only take place quietly under a tight canopy. “on any information. “”.
South Africa will not have a superyacht owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch, country says
The country has “no legal obligation” to abide by sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, a spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
Nord, a 465-foot luxury yacht worth more than $500 million, is owned by Alexey Mordashov, Vladimir Putin’s billionaire best friend, and will be allowed to dock in Cape Town.
The case illustrates the limits of sanctions imposed by the US. The US and EU in reaction to the war against M. Putin in Ukraine.
Mordashov is one of several oligarchs targeted for sanctions across the US. The US and the EU, but not the United Nations, after the invasion of Ukraine in February over its ties to Putin.
Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for Ramaphosa, said South Africa’s sanctions obligations “relate only to those followed in particular through the United Nations,” of which it is a founding member.
More here about the nuclear training conducted in Russia, of which the U. S. The U. S. Department of Health checks that they were informed in advance.
“The United States has been informed,” Pentagon spokesman Air Force Gen. Pat Ryder said.
“And as we’ve already noted, this is an annual regime training by Russia. And in that sense, Russia is pooling its weapons obligations and transparency commitments to make those notifications, and that’s all we’re going to continue to do. “Keep an eye on. “
U. S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the notification is “important” even as “Russia engages in unprovoked aggression and reckless nuclear rhetoric. “
“These notification measures are not taken by astonishment and decrease the chances of misperception,” he said.
The drills on Wednesday concerned the test launch of a land-based Yars ICBM from the north in Plesetsk and the launch of a Sineva ICBM via a Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea.
As a component of the exercise, Tu-95 strategic bombers also introduced cruise missiles to targets.
The Kremlin said in a statement that all responsibilities set for training were over and that all missiles tested had hit designated targets.
Amid growing fears that Moscow could cause a first escalation of the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin oversaw nuclear training through Russian forces.
The training had been planned for some time and the United States had been informed in advance.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Mr Putin had overseen the exercise, which he said was being conducted to exercise a “massive nuclear strike in reaction to an enemy nuclear attack”.
No longer Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who spoke to reporters.
He said the assets of the 4 Ukrainian regions that Russia said it annexed last month could be transferred to Russian companies.
Peskov said it is evident that “abandoned assets” simply cannot remain idle and that the government will deal with the problem.
Ukraine, its Western allies and an overwhelming majority in the UN General Assembly condemned Russia’s declared annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as illegal.
As we discussed in our message a few minutes ago, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called his foreign counterparts more.
In calls with the defense ministers of China and India, he repeated his claim that Ukraine is preparing to use a radioactive “dirty bomb. “
Western leaders have rejected this claim, Russia is spreading disinformation and potentially setting the level for a false flag attack.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh commented on his call with Singh Shoigu, claiming that they had discussed the “deterioration in Ukraine. “
“He briefed me on developments in Ukraine, adding his considerations on provocations imaginable through the use of a ‘dirty bomb. ‘I reiterated India’s position on the desire to continue on the path of discussion and international relations for a prompt resolution of the conflict,” he wrote on Twitter.
He told his counterpart that “the nuclear option will not be used through any party. “
It should be noted that Ukraine does not have access to a nuclear arsenal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave his report to reporters.
He asked if Vladimir Putin would congratulate newly installed British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Unsurprisingly, Peskov said the Russian president would do so, as the UK is among the “hostile countries” that have imposed sanctions on Moscow.
Russian officials have ridiculed Sunak in office, rejecting the procedure that saw him decided by conservative MPs as undemocratic.
Sky News heard reports of those in or escaping Europe’s new front line as part of the Ukraine War Diaries podcast.
In the most recent episode, Kyiv resident Oksana Koshel said Moscow is less afraid to show how it bombs civilians.
“I, the various global intelligence agencies, am keeping a close eye on what’s going on,” he says.
“It’s probably getting more and more damaging and difficult. But at the same time, we will have to perceive that there is no way to succumb, to surrender, because surrendering will mean certain death for us.
“We will have to fight until the end. “
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