‘Russia has more nuclear weapons than NATO’
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned there is a "serious danger" of NATO being drawn further into the Ukraine war if members of the alliance continue to supply military weaponry to Kyiv.
"NATO, of course, is being drawn into the war in Ukraine, what are we talking here," Putin said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, reports CNN.
During his speech to the forum, Putin also suggested Russia's large number of nuclear weapons would "guarantee" its security – noting that Russia had more such weapons than NATO countries.
Meanwhile, Putin yesterday told African leaders that Russia welcomed their balanced approach to the conflict in Ukraine and was open to discussions, according to Reuters.
"We are open to a constructive dialogue with all those who want peace based on the principles of justice and consideration of the legitimate interests of the parties," Putin said.
Elsewhere, Russian air defence units repelled a Ukrainian drone attack overnight on a pumping station on the Druzhba oil pipeline in the Bryansk region adjoining Ukraine, the region's governor said yesterday.
Three Ukrainian military drones were destroyed in the attack in the Novozybkov district, Alexander Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.
"We are open to a constructive dialogue with all those who want peace based on the principles of justice and consideration of the legitimate interests of the parties."
In Ukraine, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov said a Russian missile strike on a small Ukrainian village in the east killed two people yesterday.
Ukraine liberated many villages and towns in the Kharkiv region last autumn but since then the Russian military has frequently shelled the area, destroying critical infrastructure and injuring and killing residents.
In St Petersburg, the leaders from South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Zambia, Uganda, Congo Republic and the Comoro islands were meeting Putin at the government's 18th-century Konstantinovsky Palace after visiting Kyiv on Friday.
Russia has a total stockpile of around 6,250 nuclear warheads as of January 2021, according to the Arms Control Association. The US has more than 5,500 while two other NATO member states, Britain and France, have about 220 and 290 nuclear warheads, respectively, CNN reports.
"Nuclear weapons are created to guarantee our security in the broader sense and the existence of the Russian state," Putin said in his speech on Friday.
"But first of all, there is no need and secondly the very fact of talking about it reduces the possibility of the threshold for using these weapons being reduced."
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