Russia to hold battlefield nuclear drills after Macron and Cameron comments

Vladimir Putin orders move in response to ‘provocative statements’ on Ukraine by French president and UK foreign secretary

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Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to hold battlefield nuclear weapons drills in a move the Kremlin described as a response to comments from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on western troops fighting in Ukraine and from the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, on using British-supplied weapons against Russia.

The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that troops from the southern military district would “practise the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons … in response to provocative statements and threats by certain western officials against the Russian Federation.”