Ukraine war live updates: Russia launches tactical nuclear weapons drills, warning the West against direct involvement in the war

The timing of Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons drills that began on Tuesday is not accidental and will certainly be watched closely by Ukraine and the West.

The exercises come at a time when Russia is repeatedly warning Kyiv’s Western allies against any direct involvement in the war in Ukraine, including any potential deployment of ground troops.

Non-strategic or tactical nuclear weapons are designed for use on the battlefield and are able to erase specific targets, such as military bases or training centers. While they are less devastating than strategic nuclear weapons that can wipe out entire cities, their employment in the latest drills has made Russia’s intentions clear with the drills designed to send a warning to Russia’s adversaries.

Announcing the exercises earlier in May, Russia’s Ministry of Defense directly linked the drills to “provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against the Russian Federation.”

Russia has been particularly displeased by French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion that he wouldn’t rule out French ground troops being deployed in Ukraine. The U.K.’s Foreign Minister David Cameron has also caused uproar saying Ukraine is free to decide whether to use long-range missiles against targets within Russia.

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on allies to get more directly involved in the war, such as by helping to intercept Russian missiles. The Kremlin accused Zelenskyy of “hysterics” and said that Kyiv’s request was due to “unfavorable conditions” for Ukraine on the battlefield.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia last week launched a satellite that U.S. intelligence officials believe to be a weapon capable of inspecting and attacking other satellites, the U.S. Space Command said on Tuesday as the Russian spacecraft trails a U.S. spy satellite in orbit.

Russia’s Soyuz rocket blasted off from its Plesetsk launch site some 500 miles (800 km) north of Moscow on May 16, deploying in low-Earth orbit at least nine satellites including COSMOS 2576, a type of Russian military “inspector” spacecraft U.S. officials have long condemned as exhibiting reckless space behavior.

“We have observed nominal activity and assess it is likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” a USSPACECOM spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.

“Russia deployed this new counterspace weapon into the same orbit as a U.S. government satellite.”

COSMOS 2576 resembled previously deployed counterspace payloads from 2019 and 2022, the statement added, referring to past Russian tactics of deploying satellites close to sensitive U.S. spy satellites.

U.S. intelligence agencies had been expecting the launch of COSMOS 2576 and informed allies of their assessment of the satellite before its deployment in space, according to a U.S. official familiar with the intelligence. The launch also included civilian satellites deployed to different orbits.

— Reuters

Russian forces on Tuesday began the first stage of training in the “preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” the Ministry of Defense said in a post on Telegram.

“As part of this stage, the personnel of the missile formations of the Southern Military District are practicing combat training tasks of obtaining special ammunition for the Iskander operational-tactical missile system, equipping launch vehicles with them and covertly advancing to the designated position area in preparation for missile launches,” the post read.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the drills earlier this month in a move he said was designed to deter military involvement in Ukraine by the West.

— Karen Gilchrist

The former commander of Russia’s 58th Army, who last year decried the treatment of the military personnel on the battlefield, was arrested on suspicion of large scale fraud, TASS news agency reported Tuesday.

Major General Ivan Popov was ordered by the country’s military court to be detained for two months, TASS said. Popov’s lawyer said he had appealed the detention, Reuters reported Interfax as saying.

“The ex-commander of the 58th Guards Combined Arms Army, Ivan Ivanovich Popov, was arrested on suspicion of fraud,” the agency’s interlocutor said, according to TASS.

Last July, Popov said he was dismissed after a four-minute audio message emerged, in which he outlined major shortcomings in Russia’s defenses and said they had caused mass casualties among his troops on the battlefield in Ukraine.

— Karen Gilchrist

The Kremlin said Tuesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s latest appeal for more Western aid and involvement in the conflict is due to Ukraine’s “extremely unfavorable” situation on the battlefield.

“Various representatives of the Kyiv regime and Zelenskyy himself have been making many statements in recent days, sometimes actually slipping into hysterics. This is due to the extremely unfavorable position of the forces of the Kyiv regime at the fronts,” Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said, in comments translated by NBC News.

“This is also due to the quite difficult situation in which the Ukrainian military finds itself, despite all the promised help. The] [supplies- are not as regular as hoped for. And most importantly, there is a growing understanding that even if this rhythm of military supplies is restored, this will still not allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to change the dynamics at the fronts. This understanding is growing and it does not add confidence or balanced judgment to the Kiev regime representatives,” he added.

Peskov’s comments come after Zelenskyy told Reuters Monday that he was trying to get Ukraine’s partners more directly involved, asking them to help intercept Russian missiles and to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons against Russian military equipment at the border and targets inside Russian territory.

He said he understood they were wary of antagonizing Russia, however. “It’s a question of will,” Zelenskyy told the news agency. “But everyone says a word that sounds the same in every language: everyone is scared of escalation.”

Zelenskyy told Reuters that the situation on the front lines had stabilized in the last week, though he conceded that Ukraine’s forces had been in a more difficult position after Russia launched a new offensive in the northeast.

— Holly Ellyatt

Finland called on the European Union to help prevent what it calls “instrumentalized” or “weaponized” migration at its border with Russia.

Finland has closed its borders with Russia in recent months, accusing the country of deliberately sending undocumented asylum seekers to its border in order to try to destablize the country, a new NATO member. Moscow denies the accusation.

On Tuesday, the Finnish government submitted a proposal to parliament on a new border security law that would allow border agents to prevent migrants who are seen as “instruments of influence” from entering from Russia.

“It is the government’s duty to ensure the security of the borders, Finland and Finns in all situations,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told a news conference, in comments reported by Reuters.

“Unfortunately the EU legislation does yet not provide us with effective tools to tackle the problem. I hope our work will pave the way for European level solutions,” he added.

— Holly Ellyatt