Russian nuclear train heads to Ukraine amid test warning

NATO reportedly warns Moscow plans a nuclear test on Ukraine’s borders as Russia’s ‘weapon of the apocalypse’ is deployed.

Fears that Vladimir Putin is set to escalate the war in Ukraine have grown amid claims a train operated by Russia’s secretive nuclear division is destined for Ukraine, while the country’s Belgorod nuclear submarine has reportedly been deployed in the Arctic Circle.

NATO is also believed to have warned its members the Russian president was planning a nuclear test on Ukraine’s borders, The Times reports.

An increasingly desperate Mr Putin has warned he would resort to nuclear weapons as Russia loses ground on the battlefield, and Moscow annexes four regions in the Ukraine.

The pro-Russian Telegram channel Rybar released a video over the weekend showing a freight train hauling specialist military equipment through central Russia.

Konrad Muzyka, a Poland-based defence analyst, said the train, spotted in central Russia, was linked to the 12th main directorate of the Russian ministry of defence and that it was “responsible for nuclear munitions, their storage, maintenance, transport, and issuance to units”.

La Repubblica reports that NATO sent an intelligence report to its members, including the US, warning Russia was set to test its nuclear-capable torpedo drone, Poseidon, dubbed the “weapon of the apocalypse”.

The submarine K-329 Belgorod, which is carrying Poseidon, is believed to be headed to the Arctic. According to La Repubblica newspaper, it is about to be tested in the area of the Kara Sea, off the coast of Russia’s Novaya Zemlya island.

The Kremlin on Monday dismissed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s call to use low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine over the weekend.

“This is a very emotional moment,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a daily briefing with journalists, referring to his statements.

“In our country, the use of nuclear weapons happens only on the basis of what is stated in the relevant doctrine”, Mr Peskov said.

Mr Kadyrov called on the nuclear option after Moscow was forced to withdraw from the town of Lyman, which took weeks to gain control of earlier this year.

“In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and use of low-yield nuclear weapons,” Mr Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel.

Russian politicians have moved forward with formalising the absorption into Russia of occupied Ukrainian territories despite mounting battlefield setbacks and a lack of control over the regions they voted to incorporate.

Deputies in the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, unanimously approved bringing Russian-controlled Luhansk and areas of Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia under Moscow’s control, increasing to 89 the number of Russian constituent territories.

“The only way to save the inhabitants living in the territory of the four subjects is joining the Russian Federation,” Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, told parliamentarians. “This day was awaited for a long time, 30 years.” He posted a map of Russia on his Telegram messenger channel showing the nation’s entities, including Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

It came as the detained chief of Ukraine’s Russian-held nuclear power plant was released after being held by Russian forces for three days.

“I welcome the release of Ihor Murashov, director general of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant; I have received confirmation that Mr Murashov has returned to his family safely,” Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Twitter.

Kyiv on Saturday called for the immediate release of Mr Murashov, condemning his “illegal detention”.

Zaporizhzhia — Europe’s largest nuclear energy facility — has been at the centre of recent tensions after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of strikes on and near the plant, raising fears of an atomic disaster.

Murashov was detained by a “Russian patrol” on Friday at around 4:00pm local time (13:00 GMT) on his way from the plant to the city of Energodar, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom, Petro Kotin, said in a statement.

He said Mr Murashov’s vehicle was stopped, he was taken out of the car and “with his eyes blindfolded, he was driven in an unknown direction”.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement it “condemns in the strongest terms the illegal detention”.

With agencies