Russia will forge ahead with developing own nuclear triad in 2023: Defense chief

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says his country will continue developing its own nuclear triad in the current year, as Ukraine keeps on pressing the US-led NATO for heavy tanks to fend off Russian troops.

At a ministry conference call on Tuesday, Shoigu stressed that Russia would keep developing its nuclear triad of ballistic missiles, submarines, and strategic bombers "because the nuclear shield remains the main guarantee of our country's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Back in late December and at an annual board meeting with President Vladimir Putin in attendance, Shoigu reported that the share of advanced equipment provided to Russia's strategic nuclear forces had reached 91.3 percent.

According to the Russian military's top brass, Russia's current nuclear triad is sufficient to guarantee its strategic deterrence.

On conventional weapons, Shoigu said on Tuesday that Russia would focus on the air force, building up its overall strike capabilities, and improving command, communication, and training.

Russia would "increase the combat capabilities of the aerospace forces, both in terms of the work of fighters and bombers in areas where modern air defense systems are in operation, and in terms of improving unmanned aerial vehicles," the Russian defense minister said.

Shoigu also stressed that Russia's "immediate plans are to expand the arsenals of modern strike weapons."

"We need to improve the management and communication system," he added.

Russia started what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine with the declared aim of "de-Nazifying" the country on February 24, 2022. Since then, the United States and Europe have imposed waves of unprecedented economic sanctions on Moscow and supplied large consignments of heavy weaponry to Kiev.

Elsewhere in his remarks on Tuesday, Shoigu stressed the necessity of replenishing the army through the use of experience the Russian military had gained during the war in Ukraine and fighting against terrorist groups in Syria.

"We need to constantly analyze and systematize the experience of our groups' actions in Ukraine and Syria, and on that basis, to draw up training programs for personnel and plans for the supply of military equipment," he further told top generals.

Moscow: New Ukraine-bound Western armored vehicles only ‘deepen suffering of Ukrainian people'

Russia says new Western armored vehicles for Ukraine will only deepen the suffering of Ukrainians.

The development comes as Kiev is set to receive Western armored vehicles and tanks.

France will send Ukraine its light AMX-10 RC armored combat vehicles, which are described as a wheeled tank destroyer or light tank. The United States will consider supplying Ukraine with US-produced Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

The United Kingdom is reportedly mulling sending the British Army's Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, while Germany will send 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to the ex-Soviet republic.

"This supply will not be able to change anything", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, adding, "Fundamentally, these supplies can only add to the pain of the Ukrainian people and prolong their suffering. They are not capable of stopping us from achieving the goals of the special military operation."

Russia now fighting US-led NATO in Ukraine: Top Putin aide

A senior Russian official says the war in Ukraine is not a conflict between Moscow and Kiev, but a war with the US-led NATO military alliance, noting that the West is seeking to wipe his country from the political map of the world.

Separately on Tuesday, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said the war in Ukraine was not "a clash between Moscow and Kiev" but rather, "a military confrontation between Russia and NATO, and above all the United States and Britain."

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