Putin launches nuclear drills as US says Russia poised to strike

DONETSK/MOSCOW • Russia's President Vladimir Putin launched exercises by strategic nuclear missile forces yesterday and Washington said Russian troops massed near Ukraine's border were "poised to strike".

As Western nations fear the start of one of the worst conflicts since the Cold War, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russian forces were beginning to "uncoil and move closer" to the border with its former Soviet neighbour.

"We hope he steps back from the brink of conflict," he told a news conference on a visit to Lithuania, saying an invasion of Ukraine was not inevitable.

Russia ordered the military build-up while demanding Nato stop Ukraine from ever joining the alliance but says predictions it is planning to invade Ukraine are wrong and dangerous. It says it is now pulling back while Washington and allies insist the build-up is mounting.

Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine earlier declared a full military mobilisation, a day after ordering women and children to evacuate to Russia, citing the threat of an imminent attack by Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv flatly denied the accusation and both it and Washington say increased shelling across the ceasefire line this week is part of Russia's plan to create a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Russia had successfully test-launched hypersonic and cruise missiles at sea and land-based targets during the exercises by Russia's nuclear forces yesterday.

Mr Putin sat observing the exercises on screens along with the President of neighbouring Belarus, Mr Alexander Lukashenko, from what the Kremlin described as a "situation centre".

Mr Austin said the nuclear exercises were stoking concern among defence leaders around the world given that Russia's military was focused on a massive build-up of forces around Ukraine.

"When you layer on top of that a very sophisticated exercise with strategic nuclear forces, that makes things complicated to the degree that you could have an accident or a mistake," he said.

The drills follow a huge series of manoeuvres by Russia's armed forces in the past four months that have included a build-up of troops - estimated by the West to number 150,000 or more - to the north, east and south of Ukraine.

Ukraine's military said that mercenaries had arrived in separatist-held eastern Ukraine to stage provocations in collaboration with Russia's special services.

"The purpose of these provocations will, of course, be to accuse Ukraine of further escalation," the military said in a statement.

At the Munich Security Conference yesterday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met US Vice-President Kamala Harris and said his country is looking for "peace".

Estonia has asked the US to send fighter jets to the Baltic states to defend their skies, amid worries that a Russian attack on Ukraine would lead to a confrontation with the Baltic region, said the country's defence minister.

"There is a possibility that, if Ukraine, falls down, the Baltic states would be next," Estonian minister Kalle Laanet told Reuters in an interview after meeting with Mr Austin in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

The three Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were once ruled from Moscow but are now part of Nato and the European Union. They do not operate their own fighter aircraft.

Mr Austin vowed Washington would stand with its Baltic allies but declined to be drawn on whether he would answer their calls for additional troops.

REUTERS