Russia said on Wednesday it had carried out a major training exercise involving nuclear weapons, a day after the United States announced a delay in plans for a second summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on the Ukraine war.
The Kremlin released video showing General Valery Gerasimov, head of the General Staff, reporting to Putin on the drills. Russia said it fired missiles from ground launchers, submarines and aircraft, including intercontinental ballistic weapons that are capable of striking the United States, Reuters reported.
At key moments in the war in Ukraine, Putin has issued reminders of Russia's nuclear might as a warning signal to Kyiv and its allies in the West. NATO has also been conducting nuclear deterrence exercises this month.
In a separate development, Sweden said it had signed a letter of intent to export Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, as European governments move to boost Kyiv's defenses in a war that has ground on for three years and eight months, and shows no sign of ending soon.
Ukrainian pilots have been in Sweden to test the Gripen, a rugged and relatively low-cost option compared to aircraft such as the US F-35.
"We have started the work to obtain Gripens... and expect the future contract to allow us to acquire no less than 100 such jets," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during a visit to Swedish defense manufacturer Saab. Kyiv aims to receive and start using them next year, he said.
TRUMP DOESN'T WANT WASTED MEETING
Russia and Ukraine pounded each other with heavy overnight missile attacks as renewed uncertainty surrounded the US-led peace effort.
After months of stalled diplomacy, Putin and Trump spoke last week and unexpectedly announced they would hold a summit in Hungary that the Kremlin said could take place within a couple of weeks.
But following a phone call on Monday between the two countries' top diplomats, the White House said the next day that Trump had no plans to meet Putin "in the immediate future". Trump said he did not want to have a wasted meeting - something the Kremlin said Putin also wanted to avoid.
Russian officials said, however, that preparations continued for a summit.
"The dates haven't been set yet, but thorough preparation is needed before then, and that takes time," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
A US official said the summit had not been cancelled, but the US side was focusing for now on Trump's upcoming visit to Asia.
The delay came after Russia reiterated to the US its previous terms for reaching a peace deal, including that Ukraine cede control of the whole of the southeastern Donbas region, three sources told Reuters.
That amounted to a rejection of Trump's statement last week that both sides should stop at the current front lines.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying he could not confirm that Moscow had conveyed its position as reported by Reuters.
SHARES IN EUROPEAN DEFENSE COMPANIES RISE
Through the first nine months of his second term, Trump has pressed for an end to the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.
Sharply critical at times of Zelenskiy, he has also expressed frustration with Putin - but has not followed through on his repeated threats of new sanctions against Moscow.
Shares in European defense companies rose on news of the delay to the Putin-Trump summit. Most European governments strongly back Kyiv and have pledged to raise their military spending to help Ukraine meet its defense needs.
European Union leaders are due on Thursday to discuss a proposal to use frozen Russian assets in Europe to extend a $163 billion loan to Ukraine. Moscow says the scheme amounts to theft, and has said it will retaliate.
A senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Kyiv must have the freedom to choose how to spend the funds, and should not be limited to buying arms from European countries.
Ukraine's military said late on Tuesday that it used Franco-British Storm Shadow air-launched missiles to strike a chemical plant in southern Russia's Bryansk region.
Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that Russian attacks had killed six people, including two children, in Kyiv and the nearby region, and forced power outages nationwide.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha appealed to Kyiv's international partners to mobilise "additional energy support" to prevent a humanitarian crisis as winter approaches.
