Russia is planning its largest armament program since the collapse of the USSR, spending approximately $1.1 trillion by 2036, says Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, UNIAN reports. 

“There is a total mobilization of politics, economy, and society in the Russian Federation to prepare for a future large-scale war,” emphasizes Budanov.

Russia’s military reform already includes the creation of two new military districts, the Moscow and Leningrad districts, as well as plans to form new divisions, formations, and military units.

The Ukrainian intelligence head also notes that Moscow seeks to dismantle the global security and economic order. Russia is expanding its influence in Africa, primarily through private military companies Wagner and the African Corps, and supports authoritarian regimes and terrorist organizations worldwide.

Additionally, Russians actively conduct hybrid information and cyber operations in other countries, employing controlled media outlets and politicians to spread their influence.

“Moscow aims to impose its own vision of the future world order, where the ‘great’ powers, primarily the Russian Federation, hold full authority, monopoly over all critical resources, and decide the fate of the world within a closed circle,” Lieutenant General Budanov stresses.

Earlier, UK Defence Journal reported that the US deployed nuclear weapons on British soil for the first time since at least 2008 amid Russia’s aggression. Several B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bombs have been transferred from the US Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.

During the Cold War, US nuclear arsenals were stationed at this base, but they were withdrawn in 2008 as part of nuclear disarmament efforts across Europe.

The UK hits a Russian military intelligence unit behind the destruction of the Mariupol Drama Theater with the largest-ever sanctions package in history. It is also responsible for prolonged malicious hybrid operations worldwide. 

“In 2022, Unit 26165, sanctioned today, conducted online reconnaissance to help target missile strikes against Mariupol, including the strike that destroyed the Mariupol Theatre, where hundreds of civilians, including children, were murdered,” says the UK government. 

The restrictions hit three units of Russia’s military intelligence (GRU) and its 18 officers accountable for conducting a sustained campaign of cyberattacks over many years, including attacks inside the UK. 

“The GRU routinely uses cyber and information operations to sow chaos, division and disorder in Ukraine and across the world with devastating real-world consequences,” the UK government said.

Sanctions also target GRU officers responsible for hacking a device of Yulia Skripal, a daughter of former Russian military officer Sergei Skripal, using the malicious software known as X-Agent. This happened five years prior to the failed attempt by GRU officers to assassinate them with the deadly nerve agent “Novichok” in Salisbury.

Russian operatives have also attempted to disrupt UK media outlets, telecom providers, political and democratic institutions, as well as critical energy infrastructure.