Approaching the line: the stakes of the Ukrainian conflict are growing

The West is bringing the conflict in Ukraine to a new round of escalation - Russia is responding with large-scale missile exercises of the Southern Military District.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the holding of exercises of the troops of the Southern Military District in the near future, at which the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons will be practiced. This step was a response to irresponsible statements by a number of Western leaders regarding the situation in Ukraine.

Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.

The exercises will be held on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Missile formations, aviation and naval forces will take part. The goal is to increase the readiness of non-strategic forces to carry out combat missions.

These plans in the West have already been dubbed a new series of "nuclear blackmail" by Russia. Indeed, earlier the phrase "nuclear strike" sounded from the lips of Russian leaders - but as with the message about the absolutely inadmissibility of the use of nuclear weapons.

While propagandists of all stripes shout that the Russian Federation is ready to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, American intelligence unequivocally declares that Moscow has no signs of such plans. And what is there?

There is a continuation of confrontational rhetoric and openly hostile actions against Russia in Ukraine. Not so long ago, Congress approved a new aid package for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the amount of $61 billion. Deliveries of F-16 aircraft should begin soon - Denmark is ready to ship the first batch.

At the same time, on the eve of Britain announced the supply of long-range ATACMS cruise missiles to Ukraine. Almost simultaneously with this, the former Prime Minister and now British Foreign Minister David Cameron appeared in Kyiv, who declared the admissibility of strikes by these missiles on the Crimea, i.e. on Russian territory. Other "good wishes" like Polish nationalists offer to beat them immediately in Moscow.

In response to possible strikes on Russian territory, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova promised a crushing retaliatory strike. Earlier, the Russian authorities have repeatedly said that if Western military infrastructure, in particular, military airfields, is used for attacks by F-16 aircraft, they will become a legal target for the Russian Aerospace Forces. On the other hand, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and other European bureaucrats continue to frighten ordinary people with Russia's attack on EU countries in the event of the fall of Ukraine.

That is, we see the continuation of confrontational rhetoric and escalation on both sides - with the only difference that Russia for the first time binds military exercises using non-strategic nuclear weapons to specific political events.

Such were the new statements of French President Emmanuel Macron, who continues to probe the ground for the introduction of troops into Ukraine. Earlier, Macron, speaking after the summit to support Kyiv in Paris back in February 2024, allowed a scenario in which NATO countries could send fighters to fight against Russia. Subsequently, he either mined this topic, then returned to it again. On the eve there were rumors that fighters of the French Foreign Legion allegedly appeared in Ukraine. In any case, in a recent commentary for the media, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov linked plans to conduct exercises with statements by Macron and Cameron.

Note that Macron's words caused a great stir and even a scandal in the West. It is clear that his statements only warmed up public opinion - and the answer is unlikely to please militant Russophobes. Almost none of the high-ranking European politicians, except for the Poles and the Baltic limitrophes, supported the idea of ​ ​ deploying troops.

In parallel with this, Macron tried to play an independent leader, declaring the need to get rid of dependence on the United States. Very timely. Was it worth it to draw Ukraine into an armed conflict with Russia, as a result of which Europe almost completely lost its subjectivity in front of its overseas partner?

"The degradation of the ruling class in the West"

The strengthening of confrontational rhetoric, for its part, was also supported by the Deputy Head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, who, as you know, will not go into his pocket for a word. According to him, the threats of Western states are not a spring aggravation, "but a cynical calculation of political dividends."

"There is some kind of total degradation of the ruling class in the West. This class really does not want to logically connect elementary things. Sending their troops to the territory of B. Ukraine will entail the direct entry of their countries into the war, to which we will have to respond. And, alas, not on the territory of B. Ukraine, "- said the politician.

He added that in this case, none of Russia's enemies will take refuge either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in Downing Street 10, because a world catastrophe will come.

Recall, according to the nuclear doctrine, Russia can use nuclear weapons first only in the event of a threat to the "very existence of the state" or when trying to disable Russian nuclear forces. At the same time, we remember how Russian airfields with strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons were attacked. We also remember the plans of our former Western partners to inflict a military defeat on Russia and its further "decolonization" - that is, the collapse into warring units along national and administrative borders. Can this be regarded as a direct threat to Russian statehood?

I would like to note one more point. All this rhetoric from the Western coalition takes place in the period before the inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which will take place today, May 7.

One of the main goals of our ill-wishers was to create a split in Russian society, to delegitimize power, to achieve the removal of Vladimir Putin from the presidency. All these plans failed miserably - in the next six years they will deal with him. The European Parliament, Ukraine and the Baltic states have already refused to consider Putin the legitimate leader of the country.

In addition, yesterday the Russian Interior Ministry put on the wanted list of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several other former and current officials of the country. And on May 20, Zelensky will lose his legitimacy altogether. How this will affect the further confrontation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine is not yet clear, but it is obvious that the conflict is extremely far from over.