Unarmed Trident missile is fired from the nuclear-powered submarine HMS Vigilant -

The US could deploy more strategic nuclear weapons in response to the growing threat from Russia and China, a senior White House aide has suggested.

Pranay Vaddi, a top National Security Council official, said on Friday that the Biden administration was taking a “more competitive approach” to arms control, and believes the deployment of more weapons is a possibility in the coming years.

American officials are concerned that Russia has refused to discuss a successor to the 2010 New START treaty, which limits countries’ deployment of strategic nuclear weapons but expires in 2026.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has made a series of statements since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that are designed to alarm the West about the possibility of him using long-range missiles against the US and its allies.

On Friday, he noted that while Russia and the US have advanced early warning missile systems, much of Europe does not, according to a Reuters report.

He added: “The use is possible in an exceptional case – in the event of a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. I don’t think that such a case has come. There is no such need.”

However, two days ago, he said Moscow could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the US if the White House allows Ukraine to launch long-range American-made weapons into Russia.

All countries with nuclear weapons choose to allocate some as “deployed strategic warheads” by loading them on to intercontinental ballistic missiles or stationing them at long-range bomber bases.

Earlier this year, The Telegraph revealed the White House intended to resurrect a Cold War era nuclear base in Suffolk by sending nuclear bombs there for the first time since the last warheads were removed in 2008.

Mr Vaddi said that the US could deploy more weapons if the White House feels its attempts to limit international nuclear proliferation are not matched by commitments from potential adversaries.

AfriPrime App link:  FREE to download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

He also cited the refusal of China to enter into talks about its expanding nuclear arsenal.

“We may reach a point in the coming years where an increase from current deployed numbers is required,” he said. “We need to be fully prepared to execute if the president makes that decision.

“If that day comes, it will result in a determination that more nuclear weapons are required to deter our adversaries and protect the American people and our allies and partners.”

Mr Putin’s protest over the use of long-range American weapons in Ukraine came as presidents Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky met in Paris where Mrw Biden apologised for the congressional logjam that delayed military support to Kyiv for six months.

Announcing a new $225 million (£177 million) package of support, including air defence missiles and protection for the Ukrainian electric grid, the US president said: “I apologise for the weeks of not knowing what’s going to pass in terms of funding because we had trouble getting the Bill that we had to pass that had the money in it.

“Some of our very conservative members were holding it up. But we got it done finally. We’re still in – completely, thoroughly.”

The six-month blockade was resolved in April with a new funding package designed to see Ukraine’s defences through to the presidential election in November.

Speaking later from Pointe du Hoc, a former German fortification above Omaha beach, Mr Biden channelled the spirit of D-Day troops and warned about present dangers to democracy and freedom.

“As we gather here today, it’s not just to honour those who showed such remarkable bravery that day, June 6, 1944,” he said.

“It’s to listen to the echo of their voices. They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs. They’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for.”

He made coded reference to Donald Trump, his election rival, but focused his attention on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“The most natural instinct is to walk away, to be selfish, to force our will upon others,” he said.

Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters the president intended to draw a “through line” between the Second World War, the Cold War, and the present conflict in Europe.

The event, held metres from the clifftop, was attended by 150 guests including a US Army ranger veteran who was deployed to Normandy shortly after D-Day to relieve troops who had stormed the beaches.

The rare foreign trip in an election year will see Mr Biden meet Emmanuel Macron, the French president, for a state dinner on Saturday, before travelling to Italy for next week’s G7 summit.

Mr Biden also used his speech at the American D-Day commemoration ceremony on Thursday to hint at Trump, arguing against “isolationism” in American foreign policy.

Steven Spielberg, the American film director who created Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, was spotted helping the US president prepare for the speech.

Hillary Clinton, who unsuccessfully contested the 2016 election against Trump, was criticised for a ham-fisted attempt to link D-Day and this year’s vote.

“Eighty years ago today, thousands of brave Americans fought to protect democracy on the shores of Normandy,” she wrote. “This November, all we have to do is vote.”

Republicans called her “deranged” for an apparent attempt to directly compare Trump to Hitler.

Tommy Tuberville, the Republican senator for Alabama, said: “These Dems couldn’t be more dramatic and deranged.

“They’re comparing storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day to voting against Trump.”

Meanwhile, Marsha Blackburn, another Republican senator, said: “How disrespectful to our Second World War heroes who faced unimaginable fear with immense courage 80 years ago today”.

AfriPrime App link:  FREE to download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

Putin says he sees no threat warranting use of nuclear arms but warns Russia could arm Western foes

President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he sees no current threat to Russia’s sovereignty that would warrant the use of nuclear weapons but again warned that Moscow could send arms to countries or groups to strike Western targets.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said use of nuclear weapons is only possible in “exceptional cases” and that he does not believe “such a case has arisen.” The Russian leader has repeatedly raised the specter of a nuclear attack since he sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.

On Friday, he repeated a warning made days earlier that Moscow “reserves the right” to arm Western adversaries as a response to some NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use their weapons to strike targets inside Russia.

“If they supply (weapons) to the combat zone and call for using these weapons against our territory, why don’t we have the right to do the same?” Putin asked.

“But I’m not ready to say that we will be doing it tomorrow, either,” Putin added, suggesting that it might affect global stability.

He didn’t specify where such arms might be sent. The U.S. has said that Russia has turned to North Korea and Iran to beef up its stock of relatively simple weapons, but Moscow could dip into its stock of high-tech missiles to share with adversaries of the West if Putin decides to fulfill his threat.

The United States and Germany recently authorized Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying to Kyiv.

On Wednesday, a Western official and a U.S. senator said Ukraine has used American weapons to strike inside Russia under newly approved guidance from President Joe Biden that allows American arms to be used to defend Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Putin also said he sees no need for a new round of mobilization to beef up Russia's forces in Ukraine because, he said, “people come voluntarily and go to the front lines to defend the Motherland.”

Russia mobilized 300,000 reservists in the fall of 2022 amid a series of military setbacks in Ukraine, an unpopular move that prompted hundreds of thousands to flee the country to avoid being drafted.

Putin made the comments during a question and answer session with a pro-Kremlin moderator at the forum, which has been used by Russia for decades as a showcase for touting the country’s development and to woo investors.

Earlier in a speech, he said the Russian economy is growing despite international sanctions and said Moscow has increasing economic ties with countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Putin said Russia “remains one of the key participants in world trade,” despite the sweeping sanctions, imposed for sending troops into Ukraine, that cut off much of Russia’s trade with Western Europe, the U.S. and their allies.

The main driver of Russia’s economic growth is the fighting — now as important to the Kremlin economically as it is politically.

Russians are finding a few imported staples, and most global brands have disappeared — or been reincarnated as Russian equivalents. But not much else has changed economically for most people, with massive state spending for military equipment and hefty payments to volunteer soldiers giving a strong boost to the economy.

AfriPrime App link:  FREE to download...

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT