Chris Lange, FISM News

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NATO began its long-planned annual nuclear exercises in northwestern Europe on Monday as tensions simmer over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats to use “any means necessary” to defend Russian territory.

U.S. long-range B-52 bombers are participating in the maneuvers dubbed “Steadfast Noon,” the Associated Press reported. The exercises include fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads as well as surveillance and refueling planes. The bulk of the drills is taking place just over 600 miles away from Russia’s borders over host country Belgium, the North Sea, and the United Kingdom. No media access is permitted.  

Though the exercises had been planned before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, they take on heightened significance as the Kremlin’s growing threats to use nuclear weapons have heightened fears and tensions in Europe. NATO expects Moscow to exercise its own annual nuclear forces in the coming weeks.

Iranian-supplied drones used in Russian strike on Kyiv apartment building that killed 3

Ukrainian officials said Russian forces attacked the center of Kyiv with Iranian-made drones it unleashed during rush hour on Monday. A presidential office spokesperson said three people were killed in an attack on a residential building in Ukraine’s capital, though the number could rise steeply as rescue workers continued to try to control a fire resulting from the attack.

Ukraine said the deadly strikes were carried out with Iran-made “suicide drones.” Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the strikes on Monday, saying it had carried out a “massive” attack on military targets and energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine using high-precision weapons.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi later said deaths were reported in other cities, as well, though a number was not provided at the time.

The strikes came one week after Russia unleashed its heaviest aerial bombardment of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities since the start of the war. Last week’s bombardment of the capital also occurred during rush hour in an attempt to inflict as much death and terror as possible.

“All night and all morning the enemy terrorizes the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. A residential building was hit in Kyiv,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app.

“The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us. The occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of future generations. And we will get victory.”

Ukraine’s military said it had destroyed 37 Russian drones since Sunday evening, amounting to roughly  85% of those involved in attacks.

Pentagon announces $725 million in new military aid for Ukraine

Back in Washington, the Biden administration on Friday announced another $725 million package of weapons and other military assistance to Ukraine, joining a chorus of similar pledges from European allies to send Kyiv more weapons and air defense systems.

The U.S. aid primarily focuses on restocking thousands of rounds of ammunition for U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) which Ukraine has used to great effect in its counteroffensive to liberate Russian-occupied territories.

The U.S. Department of Defense said the newest aid was pledged in response to Russia’s increased attacks on civilians and infrastructure in cities throughout Ukraine, which a senior defense official said violates international laws of war.

“We do assess that the Ukrainians continue to make some advances on the battlefield,” a U.S. Department of Defense said Friday. “We also have seen … particularly since the attack of the [Crimean Peninsula] Kerch Bridge last week, … the Russians continue to retaliate. The use of precision-guided munitions in a very imprecise way has continued over the course of the week.” 

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told an assembly of defense ministers this week that “Russia’s latest assaults have only deepened the determination of the Ukrainian people and further united countries of goodwill from every region on Earth,” adding, “Our resolve and steadiness of purpose has only been strengthened.”

Russia reportedly forcing men from homeless shelters, migrant worker housing to enlist in war

Meanwhile in Russia, Kremlin military and police personnel are said to be rounding up men from homeless shelters and migrant labor housing facilities, forcibly enlisting them into the war, the Washington Post reported. Fighting-age Russian males are being seized from apartment buildings, metro stations, business offices, and coffee houses as part of Putin’s desperate effort to mobilize 300,000 conscripts for its war on Ukraine following a series of humiliating defeats. 

Since Putin announced the first military draft since World War Two, hundreds of thousands of men have fled Russia’s borders while others have quit their jobs and cut off contact with people in an effort to evade conscription. 

Power restored to endangered nuclear power station, barely averting disaster

Ukrainian engineers have restored critical backup power to an essential Russian-occupied nuclear power plant that lost access to external electricity following two shelling attacks that occurred last week. The news was reported by the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, Rafael Grossi, on Friday.

Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the operating staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant had been “working in very challenging conditions” to do all that they could to bolster the plant’s off-site power essential for ensuring nuclear safety. Until Friday, the critical systems were operating solely by emergency backup generators capable of maintaining operations for only about 10 days.

Russian soldiers murder orchestra leader for refusing to participate in Kherson concert

Meanwhile, in yet another example of Russia’s extreme brutality throughout the eight-month war, Kremlin soldiers shot and killed an orchestra conductor who refused to participate in a concert in occupied Kherson, The Hill reported.

The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine on Friday confirmed in a Facebook post that Kremlin soldiers shot Yuri Kerpatenko in his own home.

Kerpatenko, who was the conductor of the Gileya Chamber Orchestra, reportedly refused Moscow’s invitation to perform a concert with the orchestra group “to demonstrate the so-called ‘improvement of peaceful life’ in Kherson,” according to the ministry.

The late conductor was also affiliated with the Kherson Regional Philharmonic and the Mykola Kulish Kherson Music and Drama Theater in the region, according to the report.