NATO prepares for nuclear drills and doubles number of warships in the Baltic Sea to 30 in show of strength after ‘horrific’ Russian bombing raids in Ukraine
- Alliance will proceed with annual nuclear preparedness exercise Steadfast Noon
- NATO air forces practise the use of US nuclear bombs with training flights
- It has doubled its presence in the Baltic and the North Seas to over 30 ships
NATO is preparing for nuclear drills and has doubled the number of warships in the Baltic Sea to 30 in a show of strength after the ‘horrific’ Russian bombing raids in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Moscow on Tuesday it would meet attacks on allies’ critical infrastructure with a ‘united and determined response’ and was monitoring Russia‘s nuclear forces closely as the country was ‘losing on the battlefield’ in Ukraine.
Ahead of a two-day meeting of the Western alliance’s defence ministers in Brussels, he added that it had not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture, but was ‘vigilant’.
Stoltenberg described Russia’s missile strikes on civilians in Ukraine on Monday as a sign of weakness.
‘Russia is actually losing on the battlefield,’ he told a news conference, saying it was responding with ‘indiscriminate attacks’ to Ukrainian advances.
That view was echoed by US ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith.
‘President Putin is failing to meet his strategic objectives on the ground and this has been a reoccurring theme for him personally since this war started,’ she told an online briefing.
The alliance will proceed with its annual nuclear preparedness exercise Steadfast Noon next week, in which NATO air forces practise the use of US nuclear bombs based in Europe with training flights, without live weapons.