Putin to oversee “huge nuclear drill” on Saturday

The Kremlin announced on Friday that President Vladimir Putin will “personally oversee” military drills involving “strategic forces” on Saturday. The defense ministry said the exercise will include multiple practice launches of ICBMs and cruise missiles, with the air force, units of the southern military district and the Northern and Black Sea fleets taking part in the huge nuclear exercise. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said he would take part in overseeing the drills.

US OSCE delegate Michael Carpenter said Friday, “We assess that Russia probably has massed between 169,000 and 190,000 troops in and near Ukraine compared with about 100,000 on Jan. 30.