NATO and the Russian military held planned annual nuclear drills on Wednesday, as the Russian president repeated the baseless claim that Ukraine plans to ignite a radioactive “dirty bomb.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin remotely watched Russia’s annual exercise, dubbed “Grom” or “Thunder,” which uses test launches to test Moscow’s nuclear forces, in a show of force designed by deter and intimidate enemies.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the drills were intended to simulate a “massive nuclear attack” by Russia in retaliation for a nuclear attack on Russia.
The Kremlin said in a statement that all the tasks set for the exercise were fulfilled and that all the missiles that were tested hit their designated targets.
Potential challenge to the US, allies
The Pentagon said a day earlier that Russia had notified it of its intention to hold the exercises at a time when NATO is rehearsing its own use of US nuclear bombs based in Europe in its war games annual “Steadfast Noon”.
The drills pose a potential challenge for the United States and its allies after Putin’s nuclear saber rattling during his invasion of Ukraine, although Western officials have expressed confidence in their ability to discern the difference between a drill Russian and any move by Putin to do good. about their threats.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is conducting its own annual nuclear drills, involving US B-52 bombers, 14 countries and up to 60 aircraft.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, pictured in the Kremlin on Wednesday, has doubled down on Ukraine after heavy losses on the battlefield. (Alexei Babushkin/Sputnik/Kremlin)
The Russian exercise comes amid warnings from Moscow about an alleged Ukrainian plot to detonate a radioactive device in a false flag attack to blame Russia, a claim strongly rejected by Ukraine and its allies.
Russia has continued to beat that drum this week, including comments from Shoigu and Putin and a closed-door message to the United Nations Security Council.
Shoigu called his counterparts in India and China to convey Moscow’s concern over the alleged Ukrainian plan, following a series of calls earlier in the week with NATO defense ministers.
Putin warns of ‘so-called dirty bomb’
Putin spoke of the alleged threat on Wednesday, telling a meeting of intelligence officials from the CIS group of ex-Soviet countries that the West was “bombing” Ukraine with heavy weapons, adding: “There are also plans to use the so-called dirty bomb for provocations”. It was the first time that Putin himself denounced the dirty bomb.
A dirty bomb uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste in an effort to sow terror. These weapons lack the devastating destruction of a nuclear explosion, but could expose large areas to radioactive contamination that could last for years.
Western allies have dismissed as absurd the idea that Ukraine would pollute its own land with toxic waste when Russia is on the battlefield. Russia has not provided any evidence for the accusation.
The UK’s deputy ambassador to the UN, James Kariuki, called the allegations “pure Russian disinformation of the kind we have seen many times before”.
Western officials have expressed fears that the warning appears designed to serve as justification for some sort of escalation of the Russian battlefield at a time when Ukrainian forces are advancing deep into the rebel-held Kherson province. Russians
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday that the 30-nation military organization “will not be intimidated or deterred from supporting the right of self-defense of Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
LOOK | Ukraine denies Russia ‘dirty bomb’ accusation:
Ukraine denies Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ accusation
Ukraine denies claims by Russia that it is about to launch a radioactive attack with a “dirty bomb”, a claim that Western allies have also rejected. United Nations inspectors will go to the country at the request of Kyiv to refute the accusation.
Since Russian forces suffered major defeats in Ukraine in September, Putin has doubled down, calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists, announcing the annexation of occupied territory and making threats.
US President Joe Biden warned in Moscow on Tuesday that any use of nuclear weapons by Russia would be an “incredibly serious mistake”.
Slovenia’s government said Russia has been involved in a disinformation campaign about “dirty bombs,” using a 2010 photo from the country’s European Union Radioactive Waste Agency titled “Ukraine’s capabilities to create the dirty bomb.”
Putin calls for openness to negotiations
The photo shows bags containing smoke detectors with inscriptions in Slovenian that say “radioaktivno” or radioactive. The Slovenian government says the detectors contain a radioactive source, but it is not one of the ones listed below the photo in the Russian Foreign Ministry statement. Slovenia’s government said on Twitter that its radioactive waste is being stored safely and is not being used for dirty bombs.
Although he continues to make baseless claims, Putin is still sending signals that he is open to negotiations with Kyiv. The latest message came through Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embalo, President of Guinea-Bissau, who visited Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I was in Russia with President Putin, who asked me to send you what we discussed, something that he believes would be very important. He wishes and believes that there should be a direct dialogue between your two countries “, said the leader of Guinea Bissau. .
A woman cries at the grave of her only son, a serviceman killed during a Russian airstrike, at a cemetery in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday. She did not learn of her son’s death until four months later, when she managed to escape from her village of Kherson occupied by Russian troops. (Emilio Morenatti/The Associated Press)
At a press conference, Zelenskyy responded that a prerequisite for the talks would be Russia’s recognition of Ukraine’s territory, borders and sovereignty.
The two sides have achieved limited cooperation on certain issues, such as the exchange of prisoners of war and the repatriation of remains.
Russia affects more than 40 cities
On the ground, Ukrainian officials say Russia has attacked more than 40 cities around Ukraine in the past day, killing at least two more people and maintaining terror that forces people to take shelter each night.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Wednesday that Russian forces launched five rockets, 30 airstrikes and more than 100 strikes with multiple rocket launch systems against Ukrainian targets.
A Ukrainian official reported Wednesday that a Russian strike hit a gas station in the city of Dnipro, killing two people, including a pregnant woman. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said four wounded were hospitalized.
Mykolaiv, a southern port city near the front lines of the war, is one of the places where residents have been lining up to receive rations of bread and canned goods as rising food prices and losses income added to the wartime burdens of low-income households. in Ukraine
Several buildings and neighborhoods were hit in Mykolaiv on Tuesday, although it was not yet clear if there were any casualties, according to local authorities.
The missiles continued on Wednesday morning.
‘It’s terrifying’
The only food distribution point in Mykolaiv allows each person to receive free bread once every three days. Many have to walk long distances to collect essential food for their families.
“Bread and preserves are all I eat. It’s almost winter and it’s terrifying,” said 70-year-old Anna Bilousova.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin on Wednesday kept the door open to talks about a possible swap involving jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner, but reiterated that such discussions must be kept strictly confidential.
A Russian court on Tuesday rejected Griner’s appeal against his nine-year prison sentence for drug possession. The eight-time All-Star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist was sentenced Aug. 4 after police said they found vaporizer bubbles containing cannabis oil in his luggage at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow.