Russia threatens UK with nuclear annhilation in unhinged WW3 rant

Britain is risking a nuclear World War 3 by triggering provocations against Russia and seeking to pit Donald Trump against Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has warned. The paranoid claim comes as Moscow is staging its largest naval war games this year, with the atomic submarine Oryol sent out on a drill to fire missiles at a simulated Western enemy.

Russia's bizarre Doomsday Radio - supposedly linked to the nuclear readiness of Russian forces - cackled into life to issue new coded messages amid high tension with the West. Among its indecipherable messages were 'Himalayan', 'Pekinsky', and 'Kommunike'. Spymaster Nikolai Patrushev - ex-head of the Russian security council and FSB counterintelligence service, now a close aide to Putin - has a long obsession with the sway of MI6 and MI5. Britain, along with Ukraine, was preparing sophisticated anti-Russian provocations in the Baltic Sea, he said. One of the scenarios involves staging a fake Russian torpedo attack on a US Navy ship, he alleged.

Moscow's SVR foreign intelligence service had discovered Soviet-Russian-made torpedoes were transferred by Ukraine to the British for use in such a "provocation", according to Patrushev.

Another scenario involves the accidental discovery of Russian-made anchor mines in the Baltic Sea.

"At present, we are talking about an attempt by England to pit the two largest nuclear powers against each other in an attempt to disrupt the Russian-American negotiation process and convince Washington to continue full-scale military assistance to the Kyiv regime,' said Patrushev, 74.

Speaking amid Russian naval drills in the Pacific and Arctic oceans, and the Baltic and Caspian seas, he vowed that Putin's nuclear arsenal could be used.

"As for Westerners who like to talk about the need to move from a cold war to a hot war with Russia, I would like to remind them that our strategic nuclear forces at sea are continuously conducting combat patrols, ready to strike designated targets.

"With their powerful weaponry, submarines are capable of cooling any hot head."

He alleged: "NATO's current actions are very similar to rehearsals for scenarios of full-scale aggression against our country."

He claimed Russia faced "constant combat patrols in remote ocean areas by nuclear submarines with ballistic missiles belonging to the British and French navies."

In the sea areas adjacent to Russian territory, such patrols were staged by "British and American nuclear multi-purpose submarines."

Patrushev said: "Russia does not seek confrontation, but will defend its national interests and the security of its citizens by all means available. Any attempts to test our combat readiness will receive an immediate and harsh response. The responsibility for the possible consequences will lie entirely with the alliance's leadership....

"Russia's nuclear shield is the best guarantee of our country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the addition of a new nuclear submarine to the Navy is proof that this shield is constantly being strengthened."

The so-called July Storm war games involve more than 150 combat ships, 120 aircraft, and 15,000-plus military personnel.

Ships of the Northern Fleet were seen repelling an air attack by a simulated enemy in the Barents Sea, and cruise missiles were fired by the Pacific Fleet in the Sea of Japan.

In another hot night in the war, Ukraine struck multiple strategic sites in Russia, as Putin's forces continued savage bombing of civilian infrastructure.

A strike with American HIMARS missiles hit a suspected military target in occupied Donetsk city, triggering a huge column of smoke.

The target of a reported eight or so strikes was believed to be a Russian army HQ close to Zasyadko mine.

The Tambov Gunpowder Plant in Kotovsk, which supplies Putin's war machine, was ablaze following explosions triggered by Ukrainian drones.

In the Stavropol region, the Azot chemical plant in Nevinnomyssk, key to Russian artillery shells, was hit in a wave of almost 40 drone strikes.

Krasnodar region was hit by fresh drone strikes, which again caused massive disruption to flights at Russia's leading resort, Sochi, on the Black Sea.

Dozens of flights were delayed as Ukraine staged fresh strikes to disrupt Russian railways, used to move military equipment and ammunition.

Timashevsk Station was hit, as was a passenger train, injuring two, while explosions also thundered over Slavyansk-na-Kubani.

In the Rostov region, rail infrastructure was hit in new attacks aimed at harming rail supplies, delaying more than 20 passenger trains.

Other Russian airports forced to close overnight by flying military drones were Vladikavkaz, Grozny, Magas, Mineralnye Vody, Nalchik, Stavropol, and Tambov.

Russia overnight struck Ukraine in Kherson, with the city covered in smoke.

A day earlier, Russian strikes killed two and wounded 40 in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, a strike branded "senseless" by Volodymyr Zelensky.

Influential Patrushev is pushing for his son Dmitry, 47, now deputy premier, to become Putin's successor when the 72-year-old stands down.