• The Pentagon canceled this weekend’s test of the Minuteman III intercontinental missiles from California
  • Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby insisted it was to show ‘restraint’ and is ‘not a backwards step’
  • He also confirmed the U.S. would not join Putin in putting their nuclear arsenal in a state of readiness 
  • ‘We did not take this decision lightly but instead to demonstrate that we are a responsible nuclear power,’ Defense Press Secretary John Kirby said Wednesday 
  • He announced the move in his briefing as a missile struck an area near Kyiv’s southern main rail station
  • The U.S. has also warned that the Kremlin has deployed vacuum bombs and cluster munitions 
  • The $7,000,000 Minuteman III ballistic missiles can travel 6,000 miles at 15,000 mph   
  • Earlier, bodies of five people killed in a strike on Kyiv’s television tower were today piled into a van by police 
  • Mayor Vitali Klitschko said defences are being built and that ‘we will fight’ to stop the city being captured 

The Pentagon announced Wednesday it will delay its nuclear missile test scheduled for this weekend to avoid angering Russian President Vladimir Putin as he continued shelling Ukrainian cities and civilian and military casualties continued to climb.

Defense Department Spokesperson John Kirby said the move is a show of ‘restraint’ after the Russian leader put his country’s nuclear forces on high alert and amid warnings from the U.S. he is deploying vacuum bombs and cluster munitions across the border.

‘This is not a step backwards in our readiness,’ he assured during his press briefing Wednesday announcing the testing of the $7,000,000 intercontinental Minuteman III ballistic missiles – that can travel up to 6,000 miles at 15,000 mph – would be scrapped at Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California.

Kirby said the U.S. has not followed Putrin in putting its nuclear forces on heightened alert in a briefing conducted as a missile struck near Kyiv’s southern main rail station – where thousands of women and children were being evacuated.

The scrapping of the test flight is the first show of restraint from the U.S. after hitting Putin with a slew of sanctions as the world continued pushing him into international exile.

Countries from across the world lined up against Russia at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday to overwhelmingly pass a resolution that rebuked Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces.

The delay of missile testing comes after the U.S. Air Force flexed its military muscles Tuesday at one of its airbases in Japan, showcasing a fleet of more than two dozen warplanes in an apparent effort to deter Chinese forces from invading the self-governing island of Taiwan.

The display of military might at Kadena Air Base, which officials called a ‘routine wing readiness exercise,’ comes two days after President Joe Biden dispatched several former senior defense staffers to the island nation in a show of support, as many wonder whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could trigger a Chinese invasion of the country.

Kirby claimed the Defense Department Secretary Lloyd Austin is ‘comfortable that the strategic deterrence posture that we have in place is up to the task of defending the homeland and our allies.’

At the top of the briefing Wednesday, Kirby detailed: ‘I often come out here and tell you what we have done both in terms of exercises and operations. Today, I want to talk a little bit about something that we’re not going to do, and I want to explain why.’

‘Last weekend, as you saw, President Putin directed a special alert of Russian nuclear forces. Now, in this time of heightened tensions, the United States and other members of the international community rightly saw this as a dangerous and irresponsible and, as I said before, an unnecessary step.’