Russia orders nuclear drills in response to Western comments on troops for Ukraine

May 6 (UPI) -- Russia announced Monday that it would conduct tactical nuclear drills in response to what it claimed were "provocative statements and threats" from Western officials concerning the Ukrainian war.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the nuclear exercises would be to "maintain the readiness of personnel and equipment" and to ensure the "territorial integrity and sovereignty" of Russia. The drills would practice the use of "non-strategic nuclear weapons."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the drills were in response to French President Emmanuel Macron last week as well as additional comments from the British and U.S. governments.

Macron made the comments in a story published in The Economist, saying he was "not ruling anything out" in support of Ukraine, including sending Western troops there.

"We have undoubtedly been too hesitant by defining the limits of our action to someone who no longer has any and who is the aggressor," he said.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev responded to Macron's comments on Monday, saying that any deployment of Western troops into Ukraine to fight Russia would amount to declaring war.

"Sending their troops to the territory of former Ukraine will mean their direct involvement in the war," Medvedev said, according to the state-run news agency TASS. "We will have to respond to this. And, alas, not on the territory of former Ukraine."

He called the comments by Macron a "shameless calculation for political bonus points," adding that Western leaders who move to send troops to Ukraine "won't be able to hide on Capitol Hill, or in Elysee Place, or on 10 Downing Street."

Ukraine's military intelligence agency described Moscow's plans for the drills as "nuclear blackmail."

"We do not see here anything new except for the information effect and statements," Ukraine's Andriy Yusov said. "Nuclear blackmail is a constant practice of Putin's regime."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to take the use of nuclear weapons off the table since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow has even moved nuclear weapons to ally Belarus but has not followed through to use them.