The White House said: “Washington takes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statements about nuclear weapons seriously, but does not need to increase the alertness of its strategic deterrence forces at this time.”

In the morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilization of the Russian army. He also noted: “I have decided to launch a preemptive strike, the purpose of which is to liberate lands in the Donbass.”

He pointed out: “We are talking about protecting our lands and about Russia, and the West wants to destroy our country”, noting that “Kyiv uses mercenaries and other volunteers led by NATO”, stressing that “the West does not want peace between Russia and Ukraine . the fate of the people, and we support this decision”, noting that “against Western weapons, we have weapons of mass destruction.”