According to the news of the Financial Associated Press on February 22, the Russian Satellite News Agency released a message to the outside world that Russian Defense Minister Shoigu said when presiding over the emergency meeting of the Russian Security Conference that tactical nuclear weapons may appear in the eastern region of Ukraine. Moreover, the Russian defense minister also publicly stated that the Ukrainian side intends to become a nuclear-armed country again, and this statement of the Russian side has aroused great concern from the outside world. The emergence of tactical nuclear weapons could completely change the situation between Russia and Ukraine and trigger an uncontrollable crisis.
There is no further information on whether there is a solid basis for Russia's defense minister, Shoigu's reference to Ukraine's tactical nuclear weapons. But this incident reflects the russian military and security services' defensive mentality on the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border, and if the Ukrainian army presses the border and starts to launch an offensive against Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Russia, the Russian side will be in a dilemma. The Ukrainian side will gain the initiative, after all, compared with Russia, the Ukrainian regular army is significantly closer to the two regions in eastern Ukraine, and it is also significantly more familiar with the local situation.
Around the current situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border, Ukraine and Russia have actually changed from the initial distance to the current careful trial, it is reported that there are media reports, there are suspected Ukrainian army armed personnel crossed the border to try to reconnoiter Russia, the result was found by the Russian border post, killed 5 reconnaissance personnel, the Russian army also used heavy artillery to destroy two BMP-1 armored vehicles. These personnel conducted reconnaissance on the Russian side from the direction of Ukraine, but whether they were regular military personnel of Ukraine has yet to be further confirmed.
Combined with the latest statement of Russian Defense Minister Shoigu, the ukrainian regular army has gathered 59,300 soldiers on the border of Luhansk Oblast and Donetsk Oblast, who are well-equipped and use the best equipment of the Ukrainian army. If these forces take a large-scale operation, with the capabilities of the Luhansk and Donetsk militias, it is almost impossible to stop the Ukrainian army, so the two regions of eastern Russia are now in a state of great enemy, which is also a test for Russia.
Ukraine was once a nuclear power, and after the separation of its family in the 1990s, Ukraine had thousands of nuclear bombs, more than a dozen Tu-160 strategic bombers, and a large number of tactical missiles, which directly became the third largest country in the world in terms of nuclear bomb numbers. But Ukraine's economic situation is so unoptimistic that there is simply no money to maintain the equipment. Coupled with the unanimous demand of the United States and Russia for Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons, and eventually Ukraine gave up these truly valuable weapons and equipment, the Ukrainian army now has only some backward tanks and aircraft, which actually has little tactical value, and the strategic value is impossible to talk about.
As for Shoigu's suggestion that Ukraine could deploy tactical nuclear weapons, as it stands, Ukraine itself does not have tactical nuclear weapons, and the only possibility is to acquire tactical nuclear weapons from the West. However, judging from the current attitude of the United States and Europe on the Ukraine issue, it is obviously impossible to provide tactical nuclear weapons to Ukraine. Shoigu's statement is more likely to remind the Russian military that it is necessary to comprehensively strengthen the level of combat readiness and defense, and to take into account the relevant programs for the defense of tactical nuclear weapons.