Church of God News

Russia to hold drills that will include practice for the use of tactical nuclear weapons, days after top European leaders voiced stronger military support for Ukraine. https://t.co/PRlemCepNI

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 6, 2024

COGwriter

Financial Times reported the following;

Vladimir Putin orders nuclear drills in response to Emmanuel Macron’s ‘threats’

May 6, 2024

Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s military to rehearse the use of so-called tactical nuclear weapons in combat, casting the drills as a response to “threats” from French President Emmanuel Macron. The exercises are the Russian president’s latest salvo in a stand-off with the west over his invasion of Ukraine, during which Putin has repeatedly made veiled threats to use nuclear weapons. Russia said the drills, which cover non-strategic nuclear weapons that can be used in battlefield situations, were a response to “provocative statements” from western officials including Macron. The French president last week reaffirmed that he was leaving open the possibility of sending western troops to Ukraine, as he warned of the threat Russia’s invasion poses to Europe.

The Kremlin also signalled its ire with the US Senate, which passed a long-delayed $61bn aid package for Kyiv last month, as well as the UK, whose top diplomat Lord David Cameron said last week that Ukraine could use British-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia. “They were talking about being prepared and even intending to send armed deployments to Ukraine, which is essentially putting Nato soldiers against the Russian military,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters on Monday. “This is a totally new level of escalating tensions. It is unprecedented, it demands special attention and special measures,” Peskov said. https://www.ft.com/content/7219648f-a8df-4f9e-b422-2c62c63af0dd

Notice also the following:

The Kremlin on Friday slammed comments by French President Emmanuel Macron in which he repeated that the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out.

In an interview with The Economist published on Thursday, Macron said the question of sending Western troops to Ukraine would “legitimately” arise if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines and Kyiv made such a request.

Moscow has reacted with fury to previous suggestions the West could deploy forces to support Kyiv, describing it as evidence of NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict and its hostile stance toward Russia.

“The statement is very important and very dangerous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

Macron “continues to constantly talk about the possibility of direct involvement on the ground in the conflict around Ukraine. This is a very dangerous trend,” he added. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/05/03/kremlin-slams-dangerous-remarks-by-macron-about-troop-deployment-in-ukraine-a85028

Something else France’s Macron did was proposing to use its nuclear arsenal to defend Europe against Russia (see Macron: Europe needs our nukes to show it is not a vassal of the US).

In terms of nuclear weapons, Russia reportedly has a massive numerical advantage:

The Russian arsenal contains ~6,000 warheads, 1,584 of which are deployed. …

France maintains an arsenal of approximately 290 deployed nuclear weapons. Most of these are based on submarines, with the remainder on air-launched cruise missiles. accessed 05/06/24 https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/worldwide?utm_source=googlegrants&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=GSP&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_-GxBhC1ARIsADGgDjs9VLiH0Tt5HRSHlbBdBOJ3Omxxa1zh_7N1Uh9mR9HmjLJBRkjJlJsaAiGOEALw_wcB

I believe that Vladimir Putin is telling the world that Russia has no intention to leave all of Ukraine, and that no matter what NATO does Russia will not give up certain territory that was once part of Ukraine. And finally, that yes if needed, Russia may deploy nuclear weapons in Ukraine or elsewhere.

The current tactical nuclear weapons exercise is showing:

1. Russia wants to send a message that it will not tolerate NATO troops fighting it in Ukraine.
2. The cost for NATO to do this will be extremely high.
3. Russia has the capacity and willingness to use nuclear weapons.
4. Russia can quickly do this, so NATO should re-consider before it regrets what Russia would do.

Notice also the following from two months back:

1 March 2024

President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons if Western powers send soldiers to within striking distance of Russia.

His comments on Thursday, in a state of the nation address, were the kind of remarks usually uttered by Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin ally who served as Russia’s president from 2008-2012 and prime minister until becoming a top security official in 2020.

Throughout the conflict in Ukraine, Medvedev has warned of nuclear action and penned countless social media posts showering Western leaders and nations with slurs and threats.

“Medvedev used to write posts about the riders of the apocalypse in the style of [US filmmaker Quentin] Tarantino, and Putin brought his threats back to the limits of sanity,” Kyiv-based analyst Aleksey Kushch told Al Jazeera.

Putin has now upped the ante, responding to French President Emmanuel Macron’s assumption on Monday that a deployment of European troops to Ukraine cannot be “ruled out”. …

The West has “announced the possibility of sending Western military contingents to Ukraine,” Putin said on Thursday. “The consequences for possible interventionists will be way more tragic.

“They should eventually realise that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. Everything that the West comes up with creates the real threat of a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilisation,” he said.

Moscow has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal including a new generation of hypersonic missiles and several times more tactical nuclear weapons than the collective West.

“Now it is Putin who clearly draws a red line about using the nukes,” Kushch said, adding that Macron had probed Putin’s reaction on when Moscow would be ready to launch the nukes. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/1/how-real-is-putins-threat-to-nuke-the-west

Yes, after France earlier proposed sending in European troops to Ukraine, Vladimir Putin made it clear that was not acceptable.

When he tried to made it clear when the West rebuffed his objections to Ukraine ever joining NATO, some thought he was bluffing then as well. Instead, he began what he called Russia’s ‘Special Military Operation’ into Ukraine just over two years ago.

Below is a map of the controlled territories in Ukraine as of May 5, 2024:

(Source: Viewsridge via Wikipedia)

Russia has been making small, but regular, in roads gaining control over more and more territory. France’s Macron and others are concerned about that and want stronger steps taken.

Many in the West have wondered about WWIII starting. The increased rhetoric about nuclear weapons has gotten more to wonder.

Even Russia brought World War III up earlier this year:

Russia warns WWIII “inevitable” if West sends troops to Ukraine

February 27, 2024

The Kremlin warned that WWIII would become “inevitable” if Western countries sent troops to fight in Ukraine, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 27.

“In that case, it’s not going to be about probability, but inevitability – that’s how we assess it,” he said, TASS quoted Peskov as saying, answering a journalist’s question on how the Kremlin assesses the probability of a direct conflict between Nato and Russia if Western troops were sent to Ukraine.

Peskov warned that Nato countries “should also assess” the consequences of such actions and be aware of them. They should “ask themselves whether this corresponds to their interests, and most importantly, to the interests of the citizens of their countries,” Peskov said TASS reported.

Peskov was responding to comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron during an EU summit on Ukraine in Paris on February 27.  …

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said from the start of the conflict that Nato’s first goal was to prevent WWIII and it would not become directly engaged in the war in Ukraine, adding there is a danger that the war will spill over into Western Europe. https://www.intellinews.com/russia-warns-wwiii-inevitable-if-west-sends-troops-to-ukraine-314306/

Anyway no, NATO is not currently intending to send troops into Ukraine to fight Russia.

Jesus warned of “wars and rumors of war” (Matthew 24:6). That is consistent with what we have been seeing between Russia, Ukraine, and the West.

Since 2013, I have been posting that the situation in Ukraine would change and that at least part of that territory would end up supporting Russia. That happened with Crimea in 2014 and has happened with at least two republics in the Donbas.

Russia and the USA are not about to get into a war to try to militarily destroy each other because of Ukraine.

Despite the view of various Protestant prophecy watchers, the USA is not prophesied to be destroyed by Russia.

However, I do feel that Russia will one day make a deal with Europe and will assist the coming Beast power, who will destroy the USA (cf. Daniel 11:39).

In this time of wars and rumors of war, put your total trust in God.

Jesus said:

36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36)

He also said to pray for God’s Kingdom to come.

Remember to regularly do so.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 6th, 2024 at 7:00 am and is filed under Prophecy.

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