Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

Is Russia’s evil war about to heat up?

» Kremlin shifts 100 » Fears Moscow may air-defence missiles launch a dirty bomb

- EXCLUSIVE BY CHRIS HUGHES Defence and Security Editor @defencechr­is

MOSCOW’S commanders have moved 100 air-defence missiles from Belarus to Russia, sparking fears of an escalation in Ukraine, including a dirty nuke.

Air-freighting scores of S-300 and S-400s is either a precaution against a retaliatio­n from Ukraine for Russia’s recent blitz or a sign of a much bigger atrocity yet to come.

One Russia expert told the Mirror: “Whatever Russia has in mind, it appears to be expecting retaliatio­n on its own soil from Ukraine or the West.

“Analysts feel with these missile moves done so rapidly, just prior to this week’s massive bombardmen­ts, the two are interconne­cted.

“But more ominously they may indicate that worse may be yet to come and they are preparing for a big reaction to this activity. There has been talk of a dirty bomb.”

Defence sites within Russia were bolstered with the missiles at airfields at Millerovo, covering Luhansk in Ukraine, and Rostov-ondon, covering Donestsk.

But coverage was also strengthen­ed in Seshcha airfield on the border with Belarus and at Chkalovsky, near Moscow.

Russian artillery commanders have also secretly called up eight nuclear-capable 2S7M firing platforms to the front line. The huge guns – dubbed the “one shot” – can bring down a building with one hit.

Moscow’s commanders moved the self-propelled and tracked artillery pieces by rail to locations within contested Luhansk, east of Ukrainian-held ground.

A source told the Mirror: “It is of huge concern these guns are being brought to the front. It is possibly in preparatio­n for something big.”

In the wake of its humiliatin­g retreat from the southern city of Kherson, Moscow has intensifie­d its assault on Donetsk in the east.

c.hughes@mirror.co.uk

 ?? ?? DEADLY WINTER Snow falls on destroyed tank in Kyiv
DEADLY WINTER Snow falls on destroyed tank in Kyiv

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom