In a recent address, the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin highlighted that Russia’s conflict in Ukraine might become a “long-term process.” This occurs as he prepares to fight against an invasion in which Russian troops have been forced to flee, and even inside Russia, airbases have been attacked.
Recently, Ukrainian soldiers launched two drone attacks at once. Attacks on the airfields of Engels-2 and Dyagilevo are thought to have been directed mostly at Russian bombers, the Tupolev 160 and Tu95.
In a speech to his human rights council members, Putin asserted that Russia would never initiate a confrontation using nuclear weapons. Putin referred to the weapons as a deterrence but reaffirmed that if “peaceful measures” failed, his nation would use “all the means at our disposal” to defend its interests. “We are not insane”. President Putin expressed that we fully understand what nuclear weapons are.
Russia now holds 5,977 nuclear weapons, which is the most of any country. As the largest exporter of weapons worldwide, Russia is often known as the “World’s Arsenal.” Putin claimed that despite losing a significant number of weapons and other pieces of equipment in the ongoing confrontation with Ukraine, Russia still has many of them.
As seen by the strikes over Russian bases, tensions in Ukraine rose due to Russia’s addition of strategic supersonic bombers to its armed forces. The lone bomber has a payload capacity of 23 tonnes per run and can even take out an aircraft carrier.
This revelation has heightened concerns for Ukraine and its allies because it is thought that the bomber may easily defeat or destroy the Ukrainian air defences. One strike from one of these bombers can leave any Ukrainian area in ashes.
On the other hand, Russia accused the west of supporting Ukraine in its ongoing conflict. They also blamed it for starting the conflict by supporting Ukraine and carrying out attacks inside its borders.
Russia acknowledged the threat posed by NATO’s expansion. If Ukraine joined NATO, it would be NATO’s fifth expansion, bringing US missiles and military forces closer to the Russian border. US-NATO pledged not to move NATO even a single millimetre eastward in 1991. Instead, US-NATO has increased its eastward reach by four times, reaching thousands of miles too close to Russia. According to Russian forces, it is the main reason Russia attacked Ukraine.