Russia announces exercises with tactical nuclear weapons near Ukraine, in response to "threats" from the West.

“The first phase of an exercise to increase the preparedness of Russian non-strategic nuclear forces has begun in the Southern Military District,” reads a note from the Russian Defense Ministry , cited by the Tass agency.

The same ministry specifies that the exercise focuses on the Iskander short-range missile systems and the Kinzhal hypersonics and that the training aims to «maintain the readiness of troops and units using non-strategic nuclear weapons to react and fully guarantee the integrity territorial and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats from some Western officials."

For its part, however, Ukraine proposes that Western allies shoot down Russian missiles from their territory . “There is no legal, security or moral argument that prevents our partners from shooting down Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory from their territories,” Kiev Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleb said at a conference press with her German colleague Annalena Baerbock in Kiev.

(Unioneonline/lf)