Important Takeaways:
- Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday warned France that Russia has “no more red lines” for the country.
- His warning was directed at French President Emmanuel Macron, who earlier in the day reaffirmed Paris’ firm support for Kyiv in its war against Russia’s invading forces while meeting with France’s other party leaders at the Elysee Palace.
- Le Monde reported that after the meeting, Fabien Roussel—national secretary of the French Communist Party—said Macron had expressed how “France’s position has changed” regarding the war, and that “there are no more red lines, there are no more limits.
- Medvedev addressed the report from the French newspaper in a threatening X post.
- “Macron has said, ‘there are no more red lines, there are no more limits’ in terms of supporting Ukraine (Le Monde). Then that means, Russia has no more red lines left for France,” Medvedev wrote.
- The Kremlin official then added, “In hostem omina licita,” a Latin phrase that roughly translates as “everything is legal if it is done to an enemy.”
- “Nothing should be excluded,” the French President said, following a gathering of Ukraine’s backers in Paris on February 26. “We will do anything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has been certified to carry thermonuclear weapons as tensions between Russia and NATO hit a breaking point.
- The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has become the first stealth fighter of its class to be green-lit to carry nuclear weapons.
- A spokesperson for the F-35 Joint Program Office told Breaking Defense: “The F-35A is the first 5th generation nuclear-capable aircraft ever, and the first new platform (fighter or bomber) to achieve this status since the early 1990s.
- The move comes as tensions between NATO and Russia continue to escalate
- On Thursday, Sweden officially joined the NATO alliance, breaking from decades of neutrality
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Important Takeaways:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the West threatens nuclear war if the alliance sends troops to Ukraine.
- During his State of the Union address on Thursday, Putin claimed NATO and the US are preparing to “strike Russian territory”.
- He added: “They must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they get that?”
- Putin also claimed that his new RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is ready for the Russian military to use.
- With Putin’s saber-rattling reaching new levels, the map below shows the 14 locations in the US Russia would likely target in a nuclear war.
- The Pentagon
- Naval Station Norfolk
- Comfort Suites Kings Bay Naval Base Area
- Barksdale Air Force Base
- Whiteman Air Force Base
- United States Strategic Command
- VLF Array Lualualei
- Kirtland Air Force Base
- 21st Force Support Squadron
- Warren Air Force Base
- Minot Air Force Base
- Hill Air Force Base
- Malmstrom Air Force Base
- Naval Radio Station Jim Creek
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Important Takeaways:
- Moment Ukrainian drones hit $65million Putin warship, causing ‘significant damage’ in fireball explosion as bridge linking Crimea to mainland ‘also comes under attack’
- This is the astonishing moment one of Putin’s most modern warships was ‘hit and sunk’ by a devastating Ukrainian drone strike overnight.
- The $65mn Sergey Kotov, which only came into service in 2022, was reportedly struck by an exploding kamikaze sea drone attack near Feodosia, in occupied Crimea.
- Footage purports to show the moment of the major explosion in darkness close to the coast.
- The vessel normally has a crew of 80 – and the fate of those on board remains unclear.
- Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said on Telegram on Tuesday that ‘The Russian Black Sea Fleet is a symbol of occupation. It cannot be in the Ukrainian Crimea,’ in an apparent reference to the attack.
- It came as the £3mn Crimean Bridge – the main connecting link between Russia and the annexed territory – also fell under sustained attack, causing at least nine hours of traffic disruption.
- There was no official response from the Russian defense ministry.
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘Catastrophic scenario’ if NATO troops deploy to Ukraine – top Russian senator
- The possibility mulled by the French president could be taken as a declaration of war on Moscow, Konstantin Kosachev has said
- The potential deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine will lead to a “catastrophic scenario,” and could be interpreted as a “declaration of war” on Moscow, top Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev has said.
- The Vice Speaker of Russia’s upper chamber, the Federation Council, offered his take on remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron on the possibility of sending troops in a Telegram post on Tuesday. The approach exhibited by the French leader carries a risk of the situation devolving into a “catastrophic scenario,” Kosachev warned, stating that the move would not be tolerated by the Kremlin.
- “This is the line beyond which it’s no longer just NATO’s involvement in the war – this has been happening for a long time, but can be interpreted as the alliance entering direct hostilities, or even as a declaration of war,” Kosachev wrote.
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Important Takeaways:
- Putin makes direct threat to NUKE the West as he accuses NATO and the US of ‘preparing to strike’ Russia in his annual address to the nation – and warns of ‘the destruction of civilization’
- The Russian president, 71, said: ‘They, NATO and America, are active in other parts of the world, of course, and they continue to lie there, to deceive.
- ‘They are preparing to strike our territory and, using the best possible forces, the most effective forces to do so.
- Putin repeatedly lauded Russia’s vastly modernized nuclear arsenal in his speech and added as a warning to the West: ‘They have to understand that we also have weapons, weapons that can defeat them on their own territory.
- ‘Of course all this is very dangerous, because it could actually trigger the use of nuclear weapons. Do they not understand that?’
- The Russian despot also chillingly assured that ‘strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness for guaranteed use’, but warned the use of nuclear weapons would equal the ‘destruction of civilization’.
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Important Takeaways:
- Leaked military documents outline Russia’s doctrine for tactical nuclear weapons use, including the minimum criteria for using tactical nuclear weapons, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Feb. 28.
- Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons are designed for use on the battlefield in Europe and Asia, and have a more limited range compared to strategic nuclear weapons, which could reach the U.S.
- The 29 Russian military files, which date from between 2008 and 2014, indicate a threshold “lower than Russia has ever publicly admitted, according to experts who reviewed and verified the documents,”
- The criteria range “from an enemy incursion on Russian territory to more specific triggers, such as the destruction of 20% of Russia’s strategic ballistic missile submarines,” the FT said.
- The destruction of three or more large surface warships, three airfields, 30% of its nuclear-powered attack submarines, or a “simultaneous hit on main and reserve coastal command centers” are also listed as potential conditions for a nuclear strike.
- The documents also indicate a distrust of China, despite growing ties between Moscow and Beijing. Training materials indicate that Russia’s eastern military district conducted exercises that envisaged a hypothetical attack by China.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Russian military conducted tests of the S-500 Prometheus air defense system, which they claim is capable of shooting down hypersonic targets, reports Defense Express.
- Supposedly, during these tests, the S-500 system demonstrated the ability to shoot down hypersonic aerial targets. As an example, they cite prospective Western hypersonic missiles, combat units of intercontinental ballistic missiles, or guided warheads, as well as short-range ballistic missiles.
- Russia claims that such capabilities of the S-500 were supposedly confirmed during the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Tula nuclear-powered submarine of the Russian Northern Fleet, which was launched in the Laptev Sea.
- Russian authorities attribute the successful destruction of targets to powerful radars, electronic computing systems, and “highly maneuverable anti-aircraft missiles.”
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Important Takeaways:
- North Korea has sent 6,700 containers of munitions to Russia, South Korea says
- North Korea has shipped about 6,700 containers carrying millions of munitions to Russia since July to support its war against Ukraine, in a sign of ongoing arms transfers, South Korean media reported on Tuesday, citing the defense minister.
- At a briefing on Monday for local media, Minister Shin Won-sik said the containers might carry more than 3 million 152 mm artillery shells, or 500,000 122 mm rounds.
- “It could possibly be a mix of the two, and you can say that at least several million shells have been sent,” Shin said, according to the Yonhap news agency.
- Hundreds of North Korean munitions factories are running at around 30% of their capacity due to a lack of raw materials and electricity, but those producing artillery shells for Russia were operating “at full swing,” he added, without elaborating on the source of the information.
- The U.S. State Department, in a fact sheet, opens new tab released on Friday, said that North Korea has delivered more than 10,000 containers of munitions or related materials to Russia since September.
- In exchange, North Korea has received some 9,000 containers mostly containing food supplies, which Shin said has helped stabilize prices there.
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden announces 500 sanctions against Russia as payback for war, Navalny
- Biden said the sanctions are payback for Mr. Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison and designed to coincide with the second anniversary of Mr. Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
- “These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents,” Mr. Biden said. “They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home.”
- Biden also said he is imposing 100 export restrictions on entities that are providing “backdoor” support for Russia’s war effort.
- The U.S. and Western nations have imposed crippling sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine, only to see Moscow find end-runs around the restrictions or new global partners to keep its economy afloat.
- The president scolded the Republican-led House for failing to take up a Senate-passed supplemental bill that includes $60 billion in aid for Ukraine.
- The U.S. has provided more than $75 billion already. Some lawmakers say there is no clear plan for a Ukrainian victory so it doesn’t make sense to throw more American treasure at the effort or to help more Ukrainian soldiers to die in what is a never-ending stalemate.
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