'It's all in our military doctrine': Russia on possible nuclear strike

Ukraine pushes back troops in East; Biden signs Ukraine Bill, seeks $40 bn

Asked if Russia would rule out a preemptive tactical nuclear strike on Ukraine, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday that a decision on the possible use of nuclear weapons was clearly set out in Russia’s military doctrine, RIA reported.

“We have a military doctrine - everything is written there,” Alexander Grushko was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying.

Russia’s official military deployment principles allow for the use of nuclear weapons if they - or other types of weapons of mass destruction - are used against it, or if the Russian state faces an existential threat from conventional weapons.

The decision to use Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal, the biggest in the world, rests with the Russian president, currently Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s invasion has killed thousands of people, displaced nearly 10 million, and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States - by far the world's biggest nuclear powers.

The three-month-long war in Ukraine is at a “bit of a stalemate’ and Putin appears to be preparing for a long conflict, top US intelligence officials said.

Ukraine said on Tuesday its forces had recaptured villages from Russian troops, pressing a major counter-offensive in the northeast of the country that could signal a shift in the war's momentum and jeopardise Russia's main advance.

Tetiana Apatchenko, press officer for the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, the main Ukrainian force near Kharkiv, confirmed that Ukrainian troops had recaptured the settlements of Cherkaski Tyshky, Ruski Tyshki, Borshchova and Slobozhanske, in a pocket north of Kharkiv in recent days.

Washington sought to portray a united front against Russia’s invasion as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan measure to reboot the World War II-era “lend-lease” program, which helped defeat Nazi Germany, to bolster Kyiv and Eastern European allies.

The signing Monday came as the US Congress is poised to unleash billions more to fight the war against Russia — with Democrats preparing $40 billion in military and humanitarian aid, larger than the $33 billion package Biden has requested.

Democrats are pushing to boost global food aid to $5 billion in an emergency assistance package, and Senator Chris Coons, a key lawmaker on foreign aid issues, said he is “optimistic” Congress will pass it.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken  said Russia launched cyber attacks in late February against commercial satellite communications networks to disrupt Ukrainian command and control during Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.

Meanwhile, Germany’s foreign minister has reopened her country’s embassy in Kyiv that was closed more than two months ago.

Annalena Baerbock said Tuesday that the diplomatic mission would work with a skeleton staff.