Russia's Warning To The West — Begins Tactical Nuclear Drills Near Ukrainian Border

As a warning to the Western powers not to increase their involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia yesterday (21 May) began military drills involving tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) close to the Ukrainian border.

The drills that began in the military district headquartered in Rostov-on-Don, bordering Ukraine, involved loading and unloading of land-based nuclear missiles on launchers, driving them to launch points, and loading and unloading Kinzhal hypersonic missiles on bombers.

These drills are coming amidst a renewed offensive by the Russian forces in the Ukrainian northeast, close to Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

The offensive that began on May 10 has, since its launch, seen large gains by the Russian forces, capturing more territory than the Ukrainians did in their large-scale counteroffensive last year.

Furthermore, Ukraine is losing more territory in the critical Donetsk region where the Russians have reached a striking distance of the strategically significant city of Chasiv Yar.

All this nuclear sabre-rattling by Russian President Vladimir Putin is to signal the West to not get too involved in the war in Ukraine.

Notably, French President Emmanuel Macron made statements about sending North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) troops to Ukraine to fight against Russia, which drew Russian ire.

Moreover, the British Foreign Secretary David Cameron upped the ante even further when he said that Ukraine has every right to use weapons given in aid by Western countries against Russia, inside its territory.

Until now, the Americans and the NATO allies have prevented using the weapons supplied in aid to be used against Russian territory.

They fear that if NATO-supplied weapons are used directly against Russian targets inside Russia, it could have wider ramifications. Both the French and British-supplied SCALP-EG (or Storm Shadow) missiles capped the missile range to 165 kilometres so that the stealthy cruise missile is not used to target deep inside Russian territory.

Similarly, the Americans prohibited Ukraine from using the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) inside Russia to avoid sparking a wider war with Russia, which has the potential to quickly escalate into a larger nuclear conflict.