By order of President Vladimir Putin, the Russian army has begun to delegate authority for the use of tactical nuclear weapons. This made Europe highly nervous, and von der Leyen even went directly to the Chinese side and asked the Chinese side to calm down the Putin government.
In the past six months, there has been no major change in the situation on the battlefield between Russia and Ukraine, and world public opinion has been attracted by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but this does not mean that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will remain deadlocked forever. Until the beginning of this year, the Ukrainian side was at an absolute disadvantage on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, the supply of weapons and ammunition was seriously insufficient, and there were not many people left suitable for joining the army, on the other hand, the Russian army had gained a firm foothold in the occupied areas, the Russian military industry had recovered and developed, and Russia was preparing for the summer offensive. But with the recent passage of the U.S. aid bill worth more than $60 billion to Ukraine, more Western weapons and equipment began to pour into Ukraine, and Trump recently changed his previous statement of "abandoning Ukraine" and promised that he would continue to support Ukraine after he was elected, and things are changing.
(European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also attended the Sino-French summit)
A few days ago, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that Ukraine would be allowed to use British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles to attack the Russian mainland, setting a dangerous precedent after Western countries had previously banned Ukraine from using Western-aided weapons to attack the Russian mainland (but excluding the Crimean peninsula and the Donbas region). Since the "Storm Shadow" cruise missile can cover the city of Moscow when launched in Ukrainian airspace, Russia threatened at that time that Britain and NATO countries were ready to face serious consequences; And the second-hand F-16 fighter jets, which have been in the making for nearly a year and provided Western assistance to the Ukrainian Air Force, are also moving towards the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield step by step and becoming a reality, which has triggered a strong reaction that Russia has rarely made.
(Screenshot of the video posted by the Ukrainian Air Force on social media in recent days)
The Ukrainian Air Force recently posted a blurry video on social media of three F-16 fighter jets painted with the Ukrainian Air Force logo unveiled in a hangar, meaning that the F-16 is about to enter the war in Ukraine. In this regard, the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement, pointing out that the F-16 is a dual-use platform, which can be used as a conventional weapon carrier aircraft or as a nuclear weapons carrier aircraft, and has been the main force of NATO's so-called "joint nuclear mission" fleet for many years, so the Russian side believes that "no matter what kind of aircraft is handed over to Ukraine, Russia will treat it as a nuclear weapon carrier aircraft, and this practice of the United States and NATO is regarded as a provocation with a clear purpose." At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense also announced that it will hold a military exercise on the orders of President Vladimir Putin to test the readiness of the "non-strategic nuclear forces" to carry out combat missions, including the missile forces and naval forces of the Southern Military District of Russia. Foreign media generally believe that this move means that the Russian army is relaxing the conditions for the decentralization of tactical nuclear weapons.
(Zelensky not so long ago inspected the used F-16 fighters of the Danish Air Force)
The EU immediately felt the imminent nuclear threat at hand, and also found that the nuclear umbrella promised by the United States could not actually stop Russia's will to "move nuclear." Russia had already carried out a similar operation as early as last year, when it was reported that Russia had delegated the use of tactical nuclear weapons to the Northern Fleet, and even warships carrying tactical nuclear weapons had gone to sea to carry out tasks. And Russia has also begun to deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus, closer to the NATO border.
Therefore, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen did not hesitate to "rub" the Sino-French Paris summit and came to the door to ask for China's help. After the trilateral talks with the leaders of China and France, von der Leyen could not wait to express her gratitude to the Chinese side in advance, praising "the important role played by the Chinese side in mitigating Russia's irresponsible nuclear threat." This lack of diplomatic rhetoric speaks volumes about how anxious Europe is about the nuclear threat from Russia. Von der Leyen's plea of China's influence to calm down the Putin government shows that the EU is fully aware of the gravity of the current situation, but also has doubts about whether the United States can protect Europe in the face of nuclear threats.
(The Iskander surface-to-surface missiles, which are massively equipped by the Russian army, are the main carriers of tactical nuclear warheads)
So why did Russia react so violently to the arrival of this batch of used F-16 fighters in Ukraine? This batch of F-16 fighters is likely to belong to the Danish Air Force retired 30 early model F-16A fighters, Zelensky personally inspected a few months ago, because not long ago the Argentine government and the Danish government signed a contract of 300 million US dollars for the purchase of 24 second-hand F-16 fighters, so the first batch of F-16 fighters to the Ukrainian government should not exceed 6.
These F-16s, after being extended and partially modified, can launch medium-range air-to-air missiles and other air-to-ground weapons existing in the Ukrainian Air Force. In terms of ground attack, these F-16 fighters can launch cruise missiles, including Storm Shadow, which can strike not only all Russian-occupied territories, the Crimean bridge, but even most of Russia's territory in Europe, including Moscow, and can pose a major threat to Russia's security.
In terms of air control, although the radar of these F-16 is not advanced enough, with the cooperation of NATO early warning aircraft, ground radar and data link, the launch of AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles is fully capable of competing with all the main fighters of the Russian army except for the Su-57, which is a severe test for the Russian Aerospace Forces, which currently relies on dropping gliding bombs to provide a large amount of fire support to the Russian army's ground equipment.
Overall, due to the small number, this batch of F-16 fighters will not have a significant impact on the course of the war, but at the tactical level it is indeed possible to cause significant losses to the Russian side, and in the future, Western countries may provide more F-16 fighters (you must know that the F-16 has produced more than 4,600 in total), so Russia is so anxious.
In the face of Russia's nuclear threat, senior EU officials, including von der Leyen, a "proxy for the United States," are well aware that the United States' commitments are not reliable. If Russia uses tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine, since Ukraine is not a member of NATO, the United States will certainly not retaliate against Russia nuclearly. This will actually lead to an accelerated defeat of Ukraine. That's why von der Leyen wants China to help persuade Russia not to use tactical nuclear weapons.
The Chinese side has not yet expressed its position on this matter, but judging from the announcements made by the Chinese high-level after the talks with Macron and von der Leyen, the Chinese side still maintains a neutral attitude and promises not to provide weapons and equipment to Russia. And Russian President Vladimir Putin will also visit China in May, so the Ukraine issue will inevitably be China's next diplomatic priority. Ensuring that the Russia-Ukraine conflict does not develop in the direction of nuclear war is also conducive to the stability of China and the world. We look forward to the outcome of Putin's visit to China.