Putin launches huge nuclear missile exercises amid Ukraine crisis
Putin launches huge nuclear missile exercises and sends a MIG armed with hypersonic missile over Mediterranean as US warns his 160,000 troops on Ukraine border are ‘uncoiling’ and ‘poised to strike’
- Russia is holding practice launches for intercontinental ballistic missiles
- Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko are overseeing drills from the Kremlin
- A Tu bomber and a MIG have been sent over the Mediterranean today
Vladimir Putin is putting on a show of military strength today with new nuclear drills as he sends a MIG armed with a hypersonic missile over the Mediterranean amid increasing fears of an imminent invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian leader is personally overseeing the nuclear exercises involving ‘strategic forces’ which will include practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko is joining Putin in the situation room in the Kremlin to watch over the strategic drills.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today’s drills ‘should not cause anyone concern’ and said Russia had informed the proper channels.
Russia holds huge strategic drills every year but today’s manoeuvres include the Black Sea Fleet, based on the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko oversee joint military drills from the situation room in the Kremlin
A Tu-22M3 Russian bomber flies over the Mediterranean after taking off from the Hemeimeem air base in Syria in Putin’s latest show of force
Russian and Belarusian servicemen conduct joint drills at a firing range in the Brest region of Belarus
Tank army units loaded onto a troop train return from recent routine drills to permanent deployment sites
Russia has also sent a MIG-31K and a Tu-22M3 bomber over the Mediterranean in another show of force amid the rising tensions.
The warplane is deployed with the new ultra high speed Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles.
The 24-foot-long, one-ton Kinzhal – or Dagger – can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, and Russia boasts it has no match among Western defences.
The hypersonic Kinzhal has a range of 1,250 miles and could pummel Ukrainian troops and defences without flying close to the country.
Russia is believed to have around 20 Kinzhal-compatible MiG-31Ks in total.
A Russian paratrooper takes part in a force inspection at the Obuz-Lesnovsky firing range in Belarus today
The Russian leader is personally overseeing the nuclear exercises involving ‘strategic forces’ which will include practice launches
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today’s drills ‘should not cause anyone concern’ and said Russia had informed the proper channels
Amid the new drills today, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said the troops on the border are ‘uncoiling’ and ‘poised to strike’ during a visit to Lithuania.
‘They are uncoiling and are now poised to strike,’ he said, adding that troops were ‘moving into the right kinds of positions to be able to conduct an attack’.
Meanwhile separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine have ordered a full military mobilisation amid a spike of violence in the war-torn region and fears that Russia might use the strife as a pretext for an invasion.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the pro-Russia separatist government in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, released a statement announcing a full troop mobilisation and urging reservists to show up at military enlistment offices.
A similar announcement quickly followed from Leonid Pasechnik, separatist leader in the Luhansk region.
Russia holds huge strategic drills every year but today’s manoeuvres include the Black Sea Fleet
Pushilin cited an ‘immediate threat of aggression’ from Ukrainian forces, accusations that Ukrainian officials vehemently denied earlier.
‘I appeal to all the men in the republic who can hold weapons to defend their families, their children, wives, mothers,’ Pushilin said. ‘Together we will achieve the coveted victory that we all need.’
The separatists and Ukrainian forces have been fighting for almost eight years. But the violence along the line of contact separating the two sides, including a humanitarian convoy hit by shelling, has risen in recent days. A car bombing Friday in the city of Donetsk also sharpened the sense of alarm.
With an estimated 150,000 Russian troops now posted around Ukraine’s borders, the long-simmering separatist conflict could provide the spark for a broader attack.
Ukraine’s military said shelling killed a soldier Saturday in the government-held part of the Donetsk region and that separatist forces were placing artillery in residential areas to try and provoke a response.
Up to 700,00 civilians are being evacuated from the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after rebel leaders yesterday claimed Ukraine was about to attack the areas. A woman says goodbye to her father through a bus window in Donetsk
False flag suspicions were also fueled by time stamps on the videos announcing the evacuations, that show they were taped by rebel leaders two days before being released.
On Friday, the rebels began evacuating civilians to Russia with an announcement that appeared to be part of their and Moscow’s efforts to paint Ukraine as the aggressor.
U.S. President Joe Biden said late Friday he was now ‘convinced’ that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and assault the capital, Kyiv.
Biden, who for weeks had said the U.S. was not sure if Putin was determined to send troops into the neighbouring country, cited American intelligence as the source of his ominous assessment.
‘As of this moment, I’m convinced he’s made the decision,’ Biden said. ‘We have reason to believe that.’ He reiterated that the assault could occur in the ‘coming days.’
A car bomb sparked ‘false flag’ fears after it exploded near the headquarters of the pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic. Just hours later a fireball was seen lighting up the sky after an international oil pipeline running through the key rebel-held city of Luhansk blew up. The blast rocked the Druzhba pipeline which runs from Russia to various points in eastern and central Europe. On Thursday a shell blew a hole through the wall of kindergarten in Stanytsia Luhanska
Underscoring the West’s concerns of an imminent invasion, a U.S. defence official said an estimated 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the ground forces deployed in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border have moved into attack positions closer to the border.
The shift has been underway for about a week, other officials have said, and does not necessarily mean Putin has decided to begin an invasion. The defence official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal U.S. military assessments.
The official also said the number of Russian ground units known as battalion tactical groups in the border area had grown to as many as 125, up from 83 two weeks ago. Each group has 750 to 1,000 soldiers.
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