US President Donald Trump has ordered two nuclear submarines to be deployed to areas near Russia.
His move was provoked by statements by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Trump is playing with ultimatums with Russia and this approach could lead to war, writes BNT.
Medvedev also urged Trump to remember that Moscow has Soviet-era nuclear weapons that could be used as a last resort. This came after Trump posted a message telling Medvedev to"be careful what you say."
"Tell Medvedev, the failed former president of Russia who thinks he's still president, to be careful what he says. He's entering very dangerous territory," Trump wrote in his second warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin's close ally in recent weeks.
Earlier this week, Trump said Washington would step up pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine, giving Moscow a new deadline of 10 to 12 days, starting July 30, to make progress or face tariffs and other sanctions. Moscow, which has set its own terms for peace that Kiev says amount to a capitulation, has so far shown no sign of complying with Trump's deadline.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that he hopes peace talks between Russia and Ukraine will continue and that working groups could discuss potential compromises. But he said Moscow's goals remain unchanged.
According to Putin, if Ukraine's leadership believes that now is not the time for negotiations, Russia is ready to wait.
"As for disappointments on anyone's part, all disappointments arise from excessive expectations, as is known, this is a general rule," the Russian president said in reference to the interview Trump gave to the BBC.
"I'm disappointed in him (Putin - ed.), but I haven't written him off. We're having a great conversation. I'm like, 'That went well, I think we're getting close to an agreement,' and then he collapses some building in Kiev," the American leader explained in the interview.