Russia Flexes With Nuclear Drills After Trump-Putin Summit Delay

MOSCOW (Reuters) -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.

The Kremlin released video showing General Valery Gerasimov, head of the General Staff, reporting to Putin on the drills. They included practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of striking the United States.

At key moments in the war in Ukraine, Putin has frequently 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.

Russia also launched 405 drones and 28 missiles at Ukraine in an overnight attack targeting energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s air force said on Wednesday.

Ukraine downed 16 missiles and 333 drones, and other missiles directly hit targets, it added.

TRUMP DOESN’T WANT WASTED MEETING

Putin and Trump spoke last week and agreed to 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 Moscow also says it wants to avoid.

Russian officials said, however, that preparations continued for a summit.

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“The dates haven’t been set yet, but thorough preparation is needed before then, and that takes time,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The delay came after Russia reiterated to the U.S. 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.

“Preparations for the summit are continuing,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying. “I don’t see any major obstacles.”

He added: “It’s a difficult process, I admit – but that’s precisely what diplomats are for.”

Russia and Ukraine pounded each other with heavy overnight missile attacks as renewed uncertainty surrounded the U.S.-led peace effort.

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.

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.

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 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he has also expressed frustration and disappointment 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.

Zelenskiy was due to meet Sweden’s prime minister on Wednesday at the development and manufacturing center of Saab, which makes fighter jets, surveillance aircraft, missile systems and anti-tank weapons.

“Russian words about diplomacy mean nothing as long as the Russian leadership does not feel critical problems. And this can be ensured only through sanctions, long-range capabilities, and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners,” Zelenskiy said.

Ukraine said there were emergency power outages in most regions of the country as a result of the latest Russian attacks.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha appealed to Kyiv’s international partners to mobilize “additional energy support” to prevent a humanitarian crisis as winter approaches.

(Additional reporting by Kyiv and Moscow bureau. Writing by Mark Trevelyan. Editing by Peter Graff)