'Words matter and can often have unintended consequences': Donald Trump deploys two nuclear submarines in response to 'inflammatory' comments from Moscow

Conciliatory towards Vladimir Putin after his return to the White House, the Republican billionaire has threatened in recent days to impose new sanctions against Russia, which is ignoring his ultimatums and intensifying its bombing of Ukraine.

On his Truth Social network, Donald Trump wrote that he had "ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate areas, in case these idiotic and inflammatory statements are more serious than that."

"Words matter and can often have unintended consequences, I hope that will not be the case this time," warned the President of the United States.

He did not specify where exactly the submarines would be sent, or whether they would be nuclear-powered or carry atomic warheads.

Asked shortly after his decision by a Newsmax anchor whether these submarines were "closer to Russia," Donald Trump simply replied with a chuckle: "Yes, they are closer to Russia."

Dmitry Medvedev was president of Russia from 2008 to 2012, between two terms of Vladimir Putin, and was then considered in the West as a reformist and a moderate.

But since 2022 he has made a number of provocative remarks, particularly on the threat of a nuclear conflict, even if his influence on Russian policy remains limited.

Hypersonic missiles

On Thursday, Mr. Medvedev had lambasted Mr. Trump, citing "the infamous 'dead hand,'" an allusion to a top-secret automated system set up by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to take control of its nuclear arsenal in the event of the destruction of its chain of command.

The current number two on the country's Security Council had judged in another message published on X on July 28 that each new ultimatum set by the American president to end the conflict in Ukraine "was a threat and a step towards war" between Russia and the United States.

Donald Trump's comments also come just hours after Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had launched mass production of the Oreshnik, its latest-generation hypersonic missile, which can carry a nuclear warhead.

He reiterated that Moscow could soon deploy these missiles in Belarus, an ally of Russia and bordering several NATO and EU countries.

The American president had made a spectacular rapprochement with Vladimir Putin shortly after his return to power in January, convinced that his good relationship with the Russian leader would allow him to quickly end the war that has been raging since the Russian offensive in February 2022.

The conflict has since left tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dead in both countries.

The 79-year-old Republican is now calling on Moscow to cease hostilities by the end of next week. He is considering so-called "secondary" sanctions, that is, those imposed on countries that buy Russian oil, in particular, with the aim of drying up this source of revenue essential to the Russian war machine.

Saturated defenses

Despite these threats, AFP analyzed on Friday that the Russian armed forces had never launched as many drones against Ukraine as in July (6,297).

This includes a significant proportion of decoy drones, mainly intended to saturate Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense systems already weakened by the intensity of the attacks.

Between January and June, Russia tripled the number of missiles it sent to Ukraine (77 compared to 239, then 198 in July), according to data analyzed by AFP based on figures provided by kyiv.

These airstrikes take place every night, forcing residents to take refuge in shelters, their bathrooms or the corridors of subways, under the din of warning sirens.

An attack on kyiv killed 31 civilians overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, according to a new report released by the authorities on Friday, one of the worst of its kind against the capital in more than three years of war.

Five children were among the victims, "the youngest of whom was only two years old," lamented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Mr. Putin nevertheless assured on Friday that he wanted "lasting peace" in Ukraine, with Mr. Zelensky calling, in response, for them to meet to negotiate.