Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s strategic deterrence forces to be placed on a special regime of combat duty on February 27, 2022, Suspilne reported, citing Interfax.
“Aggressive statements”
“High-ranking officials of leading NATO countries allow aggressive statements toward our country,” Putin said at a meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. “I order the defence minister and chief of the General Staff to put the army’s deterrence forces on special combat duty.”
Nuclear forces
According to Russian Defence Ministry terminology, strategic deterrence forces are intended to deter aggression against Russia and its allies and to defeat an aggressor, including with nuclear weapons. They include strategic offensive and defensive forces.
Ukrainian MP Fedir Venislavskyi said the order showed Russia had no reserves left and that the use of nuclear weapons had become a possibility.
Talks announced
On the same day, Ukraine agreed to send a delegation to meet Russian representatives on the Belarusian border. The order came on the fourth day of the invasion, as Russian forces met stiff resistance around Kyiv, Kharkiv and in the south. Ukraine said more than 210 people, including children, had been killed in the first days of attacks.
Western officials condemned the move as dangerous and irresponsible escalation.
Sources
Image note: The featured image was generated by AI based on the content of this article. It is an illustration, not an actual photograph of the people, places or events described.
