Putin was clear: “We will use all means at our disposal” to win the war in Ukraine. A threat that the Russian president has not turned around: the use of atomic weapons, he assured, “is not a bluff.” Today is Times writes that the Russian president intends to demonstrate his determination to use weapons of mass destruction by carrying out a nuclear test on the border with Ukraine. According to the newspaper, NATO has already warned its member countries. The newspaper cites an intelligence report and reports that fears of an escalation have grown with the news of a huge freight train, operated by the Russian nuclear division, bound for Ukraine. After, therefore, the NATO report on the movements towards the Arctic of the Russian submarine K-329 Belgorod, which could test the nuclear super torpedo Poseidon, known as “the weapon of the Apocalypse”, now it is the convoy headed for Ukraine. But let’s see what we know so far about the vehicle: in which direction the train is moving, what it carries and what it means in the evolution of the conflict.
Russia, yet another threat from Putin: a train with a nuclear kit moves towards the Ukrainian front
What is it about
The news of the train appeared for the first time over the weekend on Telegram, from the pro-Russian channel Rybarthen was relaunched from Times. So far it is known that the vehicle is connected to the 12th Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, which specializes in the storage, maintenance, transport and delivery of the Russian nuclear arsenal, as well as tests of nuclear charges, including the safety of the ranges in which they are carried out. , including test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The direction of the train
The direction of the train is also known: Konrad Muzyka, a Polish defense analyst, said that the train was spotted in central Russia and moved in the direction of the Ukrainian front line. In detail, it was geolocated in Sergiyev Posad, located in the north-east of the Moscow oblast, and seems to be heading south.
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What it carries
International media are reporting images of a video showing the Russian train train carrying an alleged “nuclear kit”. From what we learn, on board the convoy, among the trucks, a particular vehicle was noticed, the APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) KamAZ-43269 “Vystrel” which is used for patrol and escort missions. Usually the vehicle is not armed, but there is a particular version that mounts a turret with a 30 mm cannon (BM-30-D “Spitsa”) which is the one that can be seen in the movie.
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The nuclear threat
The message behind this new move by Moscow also remains to be clarified. The Times, which reports that the train would be headed for Ukraine, raises concerns that the Kremlin is on the verge of demonstrating some kind of willingness to use its nuclear arsenal. According to Professor Andrew Futter, a nuclear weapons expert at the University of Leicester, both the movements of the submarine and those of the train could be a warning to the West to stay out of the conflict.
For James Rogers, head of research at the Council on Geostrategy, a nuclear attack on the Ukrainian advance cannot be ruled out, however unlikely it may appear. «Given the quality of the decision-making process at the moment in the Kremlin, nothing should be ruled out. The Russians are in despair, but it would be a dramatic escalation that countries like India and even China would surely condemn, “Rogers told al Times. A high source of defense cited by Times he believes, however, that a more probable demonstration of Putin’s readiness to use nuclear weapons could take place in the Black Sea. And, according to sources, “it is not impossible” that Putin could launch tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Although this is a risky hypothesis, with the possibility of accidentally hitting a Russian city near the border, such as Belgorod.
It is not even clear how the West would respond to such a gesture. Rogers speculates a massive cyberattack, economic strangulation and greater support for the Ukrainian and his armed forces. Futton warns that a Western response could be like opening “Pandora’s box”: “If the West responds with nuclear weapons we don’t really know what might happen next.”
For the moment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia does not want to “take part” in the “nuclear rhetoric” of “Western media and politicians”. «In the Western media – said Peskov, quoted by Tass -, Western politicians, heads of state now have many exercises in nuclear rhetoric. We don’t want to take part in this ».
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