The chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, has inspected Russian forces in the combat zone in Ukraine, the Russian Defence Ministry stated on Tuesday. The ministry said Gerasimov heard reports from commanders and “set tasks for further actions”. It did not say exactly where and when the visit took place. Gerasimov has periodically visited troops at the front during the nearly two and a half years of the war. He weathered heavy criticism over Russian setbacks and retreats in 2022, and can point to a series of gradual advances since Russia regained the initiative and captured the eastern city of Avdivka in February.
While Russia has yet to achieve any strategic breakthrough, its forces control nearly a fifth of Ukraine, with no end in sight to the war. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in June for Gerasimov and former defence minister Sergei Shoigu, saying it suspected them of war crimes for directing attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure. Russia denies committing war crimes in Ukraine and dismissed the move as legally meaningless because it is not a member of the court.
Russia has recently held three stages of drills to practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. Soldiers from the Southern and Central military districts will train how to deploy dummy warheads for Iskander-M operational and tactical missile systems and covertly moving them to launch sites, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
“The current stage of the exercise is aimed at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment of units of combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons of Russia to perform combat missions,” the ministry said.
Russia held the first stage of the drills in May and ally Belarus joined the second stage of the exercise held in June. Russia says the United States and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation by giving Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons, some of which are being used against Russian territory.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
