Russia-Ukraine War: Putin orders nuclear drills in response to western escalations | WION News

Russia-Ukraine War: Putin orders nuclear drills in response to western escalations | WION News

Russia announced on Monday that it has started preparing for nuclear weapons exercises near Ukraine accusing Western officials of making provocative statements and threats by deepening their support for Ukraine now last week French president macron hinted at deploying French troops NATO troops in Ukraine while UK’s David Cameron said that Ukraine had the right to use British weapons for strikes within Russia now what are going to be the implications here because Russia is not a nation which is not going to respond to this and in terms of rhetoric in terms of statements in terms of a borderline threat they already have for more than this we’re being joined by Ben Aris who’s the founder and editor and chief of bne intell news and also former Moscow bureau chief for the Daily Telegraph joining us live from Berlin always a pleasure speaking with you Ben and I wanted to just now understand macro has made this statement in had made this statement in February that he does not rule out the chances of NATO groups operating in Ukraine and soon after that most NATO heavy weights they came forward and they distanced themselves from macron’s statement of sending NATO troops to Ukraine now again he’s made a similar comment is France ready for a confrontation with Russia because that’s what Russia has said that if France goes ahead with this that’s what it means yeah to unpack this uh what’s going on it’s a delicate game of diplomatic fencing so in principle macron’s right that the West NATO cannot take off the table the possibility that it will send troops of its own NATO troops into Ukraine to fight against Russia the point being is if they do take that off the table then that gives a sort of bound to what n NATO will do it gives an upper limit to the threat that it can make and in Putin’s calculation then he gives him C blanch to a certain extent to put as many troops as he likes into Ukraine because they haven’t done a mass mobilization they could sign iFly scale the operation up at the moment it’s been very restrained because the Ukrainian arm is weaker than the Russian army but if you take the possibility of NATO off the table then Russia has a free hand so in principle macron’s right to make that threat the problem is is that no one in NATO is prepared to do that because they don’t want to risk a full confrontation between NATO and Russia in other words third world war so they’re very reluctant so in Practical terms everybody immed mediately withdrew from that or said they’re not going to do it but then that brings in the nuclear card because the reason why NATO doesn’t want to get into a full confrontation with Russia is the threat that they will turn into a nuclear exchange and so now macron has repeated those threats that you know French might send some troops immediately Putin is playing his card and rattling his nuclear saber by ordering these exercises to remind everybody in NATO exactly why they don’t want to go into a direct confrontation with Russia and so that’s what this is all about I don’t think there’s any any immediate danger of them of there being like Russian nuclear strike in anywhere particularly not in Ukraine nevertheless Putin is just making the point you know this is the problem this is the danger this is his trump card uh when you talk about his trump card you know anytime that we’ve seen any kind of an escalatory comment or a statement coming in from the West it’s almost seeming like a knee-jerk reaction from Russia to to press down on their trump card or to make some kind of a nuclear uh statement which suggests nuclear saber rattling it’s almost becoming traditional of Russia to be doing that and Ukraine and as many words said it that we’re used to it and it’s just Russian blackmail do you think it’s just blackmail or does Russia really have it in them to escalate to that point well that’s the key question I mean push comes to shove would puts in prepared to fire a nuclear missile at you know whoever Ukraine in particular and as I said I mean this is like you know diplomatic fencing uh it’s it’s a game that they play a very high stakes game and um Putin’s rattled his nuclear saber but what scares everybody is that given in this conflict Putin at every stage has gone to the most extreme possible response up to and starting with the actual invasion of Ukraine itself no one was expecting that all us Russia watch has U been doing it for years I think universally we were caught out and didn’t expect him to do that it was a very extreme response and I think now with the recalibration we’ve had with Putin is that he is prepared to go as far as it takes and that you know the the chances of him firing a nuclear missile is nonzero and you know to put some context on that it’s um Russia has these tactical nuclear weapons but it actually has some very small ones about a half kiloton um the smallest the Americans have is is 5 kilotons and a small half kiloton nuclear weapon would do something like destroy downtown K but not the entire city in other words it’s the power of a very large conventional bom and if he was to use one of those that opens up the very tricky debate whereby people will say well look it hasn’t done that much damage it’s only sort of taken out a few blocks um or a region in in in downtown Ukraine and so that doesn’t warrant that doesn’t warrant a nuclear mutually assured destruction Exchange so he could fire one of those tactical nuclear missiles and call the West Bluff and the West would bulk at the full exchange which would destroy everybody and kill everything and they would would pull their punch and the argument would come up as like well it was only actually cut a small bomb big as a conventional weapon so we we will ignore it in order that you know we can all stay alive um and would Putin do that I don’t think you can rule it out I wouldn’t say it was probable but nevertheless it’s it’s at least very possible and Putin I think would do something like that go ahead yeah yeah France can’t I mean as you said that you know uh macron is within his rights to say that you can’t rule out the possibility of NATO troops entering Ukraine and at the same time as you mentioned that you can’t rule out the possibility of Putin pressing that nuclear button and perhaps using a nuclear weapon of smaller capacity aimed at a strategic space within Ukraine but I also wanted to just shift Focus now to a statement which came in from the UK and it is a departure from the initial stance we’re witnessing such statements from the UK’s foreign minister which you know is is different from earlier and it’s not allowing UK missiles to be used inside Russia that’s what they said earlier but now Cameron said that okay yes these weapons can be used to Target spaces within Russia what message is Russia sending back to the West with these military drills now that UK has kind of made this kind a departure from its earlier STS again it’s another thrust by the uh by Cameron um suggesting that Ukraine could use some of its longrange missiles to hit targets inside Russia and the repost from the Russian the the the foreign Ministry yesterday was that if say um UK Missile hit a Target oil refinery deep in Russia then the Russians would take that um that all UK military facilities inside Ukraine and specifically outside Ukraine become legitimate targets and they what they’re suggesting is that there would be um if one of these missiles was used to hit say an oil refinery in Samara then the the Russians would um retaliatory strike and and hit a UK Target a base in Germany um a ship in the North Sea that hit something outside of Ukraine with uh with their with their own missiles so what this is is part of the creeping escalation we’ve seen I mean macron’s um threat to send NATO troops into Ukraine is an escalation um Cameron’s comments that you know Kev could use one of its UK missiles to hit targets inside Russia is another escalation uh interestingly vanova I mean Ukraine itself said yesterday that they would not use NATO missiles to hit Targets in Russia and since January they’ve been striking Russian oil refineries deep into Russia’s territory but they’ve been using specifically homemade Ukrainian drugs they haven’t used any Western armaments because everyone understands yes if they were to use U um an American made missile or UK made missile that would be again another escalation and Russia would respond it’s more diplomatic fencing Ben now Russia calls it a dangerous rhetoric for Western Nations they’re planning nuclear drills in the Southern military District which borders Ukraine now if one looks at the map that Southern military District of Russia it is right next to Ukraine but what is also next to Ukraine is bellarus and what’s also next to Ukraine is kenrad and in all these three positions you have the Russia carrying out Military drills nuclear drills in the Southern military district and they already have their nuclear assets parked in bellus and Kalen grad as foremost sources Ukraine for the most part apart from the the soldiers and the troops which are already inside Ukraine is surrounded by nuclear weapons which belong to Russia Ukraine really doesn’t have any chance when it comes to uh you know if Russia decides to go ahead with some kind of a military nuclear military response how far do you feel Ukraine should be pushing it when it comes to targeting you know key strategic spots within Russia the way they have been even if it’s using their own home drones the we’re creeping up towards the red line I mean each of these escalations takes us closer and closer to the point where there’s going to be um an escalation to the point where uh Ukraine looks like it’s going to collapse uh and NATO has to make a choice about going in or not and at the same time um you can see that Kev is extremely frustrated um they just got this new $61 billion package from the states however they have run out of weapons already since February the fall of aiva and the skies are open Russia has destroyed half of Ukraine’s power facilities and the winter this year is going to be appalling people are backing bomb shelters as the cities are being hit on a daily basis with a barrage of of Russian uh missiles and what can Ukraine do so the only thing it’s got left that’s effective is its longrange drones and so they’re hitting back and targeting you know oil refineries but increasingly military factories you anything they can get their hands on inside um inside Russia and they’re doing that out of desperation because they’re actually conceding grounds um Russ on on the battlefield Russia’s making advances in donbass now which it hasn’t really done for much of the last two years and Ukraine is like hitting back with anything that it’s got while it waits for more American weapons to arrive but at the same time at the more it strikes inside Russia the Russians will retaliate and Putin’s turning the screws very hard now I mean the the the offense has gone up a a notch because he’s trying to take advantage of this window where Ukraine is relatively defensive they they also run out of the crucial 155 mimet shells and Russia’s raining down 10 times the amount and Russia’s economy is on a full War footing shyo the defense minister said the other day that Russia’s now producing more weapons more ammunition than it needs it’s now sending the extra to warehouses and yet the EU the the West have not invested in the new production facilities and so they they’re actually incapable of supplying Ukraine with the weapons even if they wanted to they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel when when it comes to their own stock piles um Patriot missiles the Americans have put those on the list for resupply but it’s not sending any from its stock power it sent orders to factories so those missiles won’t appear for I don’t know until June so there’s still several months going on and in the meantime zilinsky is doing what he can which is you know to cause chaos but at the end of the day it’s not actually affecting the Russian economy the Russian econ economy is flourishing um partly because of all this military spending it’s doing very well so they’re well armed well supplied well funded whereas Ukraine is undersupplied um broke um struggling to pay uh for both weapons and and the military salaries um and the situation is dire this whole year is going to be a nightmare for Ukraine and the strategy now is just to muddle through somehow in the hope that you know Europe’s arms production comes online next year yes um that this money that’s been sent arrives fairly soon in the summer and stabilizes the situation so that they can think about a counter offensive starting in 2025 and it’s actually not just the arms that is the problem at the moment while they still wait for the arms to finally make it to the front lines in Ukraine they are also heavily outmanned that is another issue which Ukraine is facing and of course we are tracking the developments closely right here on we on world is one thank you so much for joining in Ben that was Ben Aris founder and Editor in Chief of b& intell news and also former Moscow bureau chief for the Daily Telegraph joining us from Berlin always a pleasure Ben my pleasure [Music]

Russia announced on Monday, it has started preparing for nuclear weapons exercises near Ukraine, accusing Western officials of making “provocative statements and threats” by deepening their support for Ukraine.
Last week, French President Macron hinted at deploying French troops in Ukraine, while UK’s David Cameron said that Ukraine had the right to use British weapons for strikes within Russia.
WION’s Shivan Chanana discusses with Ben Aris, Founder and Editor-in-chief of BNE IntelliNews and also former Moscow bureau chief for the Daily Telegraph.

#russia #ukraine #russiaukrainewar

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