Russia and China begin war games in Sea of Japan after Trump nuclear threat
Though pre-planned, the joint naval exercises that began on Sunday came a day after Donald Trump moved US nuclear submarines closer to Russia in response to inflammatory comments from Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev.
The Joint Sea-2025 drills were launched in waters near to Vladivostok, Russia's largest port on the Pacific Ocean, according to a statement from China's Defence Ministry.
Four Chinese vessels, including guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, will be participating in the three-day exercises.
This will include 'submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defence and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat', followed by naval patrols in 'relevant waters of the Pacific'.
Russia and China, which signed a 'no-limits' strategic partnership shortly before Russia went to war in Ukraine in 2022, conduct regular military exercises to rehearse coordination between their armed forces and send a deterrent signal to adversaries.
Though Russia and China have both said that no third country is being targeted by their military cooperation, Japan has objected to the drills.
It said that greater strategic coordination between Beijing and Moscow poses a 'strong concern' for its national security.
Announcing the drills on Wednesday, Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for Beijing's defence ministry, criticised US Air Force drills with Japan and others in the western Pacific.
'The US has been blindly flexing its muscles in the Asia-Pacific region and attempting to use military drills as a pretext to gang up, intimidate and pressure other countries, and undermine peace and stability in the region,' Zhang claimed.
China and Russia have held military exercises together for more than two decades, with 'Joint Sea' exercises beginning in 2012.
However, their cooperation, which was once sporadic, has deepened considerably over the past decade, with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping having met more than 40 times.
Mr Trump said his submarine order was made in response to what he called 'highly provocative' remarks by Mr Medvedev about the risk of war between the nuclear-armed adversaries.
Russia and the United States have by far the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world. It is extremely rare for either country to discuss the deployment and location of its nuclear submarines.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Texas GOP jabs at Jasmine Crockett with their proposed new map... as she calls spiteful move a 'red flag'
Firebrand Democrat Jasmine Crockett faces being booted from Congress after Republicans proposed a heavily gerrymandered redistricting map that would mean she no longer lives in her district. Crockett has made headlines numerous times in recent months as a key critic of the Trump administration, and the redistricting issue is the latest one she has spoken out on. She has slammed the Texas redistricting maps as a sham that silences minority voices and keeps power in the hands of the few, diluting the voting power of Latino and Black communities. The redistricting push in Texas was spurred by a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice sent to state officials in July, which argued that four of the state's congressional districts were racially gerrymandered. Democrats won all four of these seats in the 2024 elections. President Donald Trump then urged Texas Republicans to rethink their Congressional maps to give Republicans a leg up in next year's midterm elections. Texas Rep. Todd Hunter, the Republican author of the bill pushing the new maps, described the new proposed carveouts in the following way: 'It is important to note that four of the five new districts are majority minority, Hispanic. … Each of these newly drawn districts now trends Republican,' Hunter said. 'Political performance doesn't guarantee electoral success; that's up to the candidates. But it does allow Republican candidates the opportunity to compete in these districts.' Crockett called Trump 'Temu Hitler' in a recent interview with SiriusXM host Zerlina Maxwell, due to the president's involvement in the redistricting process. 'So what we have seen is, again, this rogue Department of Justice going out to do the bidding of this Temu Hitler,' Crockett told Maxwell in July. Crockett also added that in her view, Trump believes that the only way to 'ensure that [he] will have no checks on [him] is if [he] can ensure that those voices of color do not have representation.' The Texas congressional maps were already redrawn after the 2020 Census, and they are typically edited every ten years. US Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) speaks during a "Oversight and Government Reform" hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, on February 12, 2025 After the Friday hearings on the proposed new maps, the Republicans on the Texas House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting voted to advance House Bill 4 on a party-line vote. Democrats plan to stall a vote on the legislation by the full chamber by not showing up. A full chamber vote could happen as soon as Tuesday. 100 members of the Texas House are needed to conduct business, and Republicans hold 88 seats in the body. 62 seats are held by Democrats. Lawmakers could be fined $500 a day if they refuse to come to work, per a rule adopted in 2021 after Texas Democrats pulled a similar move to postpone another voting bill. Regardless of the creation of the new maps, Crockett's time in the U.S. House of Representatives may be coming to an end soon. In a July interview with liberal comedian and media personality Hasan Minhaj, Crockett noted that she already has her 'expiration date in mind for the House,' adding that she already has 'been eyeing people to replace' her. Polling released by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) last month showed Democrat Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett leading a hypothetical Democratic primary with 35 percent of likely voters, followed by former Rep. Colin Allred at 20 percent. Failed Democrat candidate for both U.S. President and U.S. Senate Beto O'Rourke, and Rep. Joaquin Castro tied in that poll at 13 percent. Only 18 percent of respondents to the poll remained undecided about who should challenge Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who is seeking a fifth term.
Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
After Trump moves nuclear submarines close to Russia, Putin responds by beginning 'war game training' with China in bleak show of combined force
In retaliation to US President Donald Trump moving submarines closer to Russia, Putin has begun 'war game training' with China in a bleak display of their allied force. Last night, Trump confirmed two US Navy nuclear submarines are 'getting closer to Russia', after an online spat with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev - now deputy chairman of Russia's National Security Council. In response, Russia and China today showed off their strengthening military ties as they took part in staged mock combat drills and other war games in the Sea of Japan together. A statement from China's Defence Ministry said the Joint Sea-2025 drills were launched in waters nearby Vladivostok, Russia's largest port on the Pacific Ocean. Four Chinese vessels, including guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, will be participating in the drills which will span across three days. The exercises will include 'submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defence and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat', followed by naval patrols in 'relevant waters of the Pacific'. Russia and China, which signed a 'no-limits' strategic partnership shortly before Russia went to war in Ukraine in 2022, conduct regular military exercises to rehearse coordination between their armed forces and send a deterrent signal to adversaries. Although they were pre-planned, the joint naval exercises came just a day after Trump moved submarines packed with nuclear warheads towards Russian waters following his argument with Mr Medvedev on social media. On Telegram, an encrypted social media app, the deputy chairman of Russia's National Security Council said Russia could invoke 'Dead Hand' – a doomsday program with the ability to automatically launch a nuclear counterstrike against major US cities, even if Moscow and President Vladimir Putin are wiped out. His post read: 'As for the talk about the "dead economies" of India and Russia, and "entering dangerous territory" - maybe he should recall his favourite movies about "the walking dead", and also remember how dangerous the so-called "Dead Hand", that does not exist in nature, could be. 'He should remember two things: 1: Russia isn't Israel or even Iran. 2: Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don't go down the Sleepy Joe [a reference to former President Joe Biden] road!' Responding in a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said: 'Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions. Words are very important and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances. 'A threat was made… so we have to be very careful. We're going to protect our people. He's entering very dangerous territory!' On Friday, in an interview with cable channel Newsmax, Mr Trump added: 'The subs are getting closer to Russia. We always want to be ready. I want to make sure his words are only words and nothing more than that.' Despite Russia and China both claiming no third country is being targeted by their military cooperation, Japan has objected to the joint drills - stating greater strategic coordination between Beijing and Moscow poses a 'strong concern' for its national security. Whilst announcing the drills on Wednesday, Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for Beijing's defence ministry, criticised US Air Force drills with Japan and others in the western Pacific. Mr Xiaogang said: 'The US has been blindly flexing its muscles in the Asia-Pacific region and attempting to use military drills as a pretext to gang up, intimidate and pressure other countries, and undermine peace and stability in the region.' China and Russia have held military exercises together for over 20 years, with 'Joint Sea' exercises beginning in 2012. However, their cooperation, which was once sporadic, has deepened over the past decade, with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping having met more than 40 times. Last night, the White House, Pentagon and Downing Street refused to comment on the escalating tensions, which come just days before Mr Trump's August 8 deadline for Putin to declare a ceasefire in the war against Ukraine. The US President has vowed to impose 'devastating' sanctions on Russia and her closest trading partners if his demands are not met. A source close to the President told the MoS: 'Trump is running out of patience with Russia. He promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office and clearly that has not happened. 'Now he's threatening to impose sanctions if Putin doesn't declare a ceasefire and come to the negotiating table to discuss peace.' While the location of the subs is unknown, the US Navy has 71 nuclear-powered submarines in its fleet, all of which can travel thousands of miles without resurfacing. By comparison, the Russian Navy fields fewer than 30 nuclear‑powered submarines. Military experts said Mr Trump will most likely have deployed two Ohio -class vessels. Each is armed with up to 20 Trident II D5 missiles that can deliver multiple thermonuclear warheads with a range of up to 7,000 miles. Sources last night told the Washington Post that Russia is 'seeking clarity' from America about Mr Trump's 'actions and intentions', with Russian officials scrambling to assess the significance of the subs' deployment. RIA Novosti, a state-controlled news agency which has been called 'Putin's mouthpiece', confirmed it had sent enquiries to the White House, Pentagon, US Central Command and the National Security Council, but had not received a response. Mr Trump's dramatic doubling down came after the deadliest Russian air strike on Kyiv this year, when 31 people were killed in a single missile strike on an apartment block in the early hours of Thursday morning. Five children, the youngest aged just two, were among the dead. Mr Trump called the air strike 'disgusting' and announced he was sending his special envoy Steve Witkoff to the region to try and negotiate a ceasefire. Russian lawmaker Viktor Vodolatsky said there are enough Russian nuclear submarines in the high seas to tackle the two American subs. Fire breaks out after a Russian attack at the 3 private house and one apartment building as the emergency officials work at the area in Kherson, Ukraine on August 2, 2025 A source close to the President told the MoS: 'Trump is running out of patience with Russia. He promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office and clearly that has not happened' 'The number of Russian nuclear submarines in the world's oceans is significantly higher than the American ones, and the subs that US President Donald Trump ordered to be redirected to the appropriate regions have long been under their control,' he said yesterday. 'So no response from the Russian Federation to the American leader's statement about the submarines is required.' Retired US Marine Colonel Mark Cancian called Mr Trump's announcement that he had sent subs steaming towards Russian waters 'highly unusual'. He said: 'This is signalling in its purest form.' Others urged restraint, saying Mr Medvedev does not speak for Putin. Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now a Putin critic living in London, said: 'When you see his [Mr Medvedev's] latest apocalyptic tweet about turning European capitals to dust, remember: this isn't strategic communication from the Kremlin. It's the rambling of a man drowning his terror in vodka.'
Times
37 minutes ago
- Times
How Ukraine's air defence warriors take aim at Putin's drone swarms
Russian jets were flying fast towards the Ukrainian anti-aircraft battery. Lightning flashed and thunder roared in the night sky above, sending rain lashing against the branches concealing its position. 'They might launch KABs [glide bombs],' said 'Kingston', 30, as he watched a pair of red markers move across his radar screen in the battery control cabin. Eleven screens fed information from the skies and the battlefield to six soldiers hunched over them. 'That's a Su-34 with a Su-35 behind covering it. If anyone launches at the Su-34, the Su-35 will engage the battery that fired at his wingman.' The command vehicle is a tangle of wires fusing Soviet engineering to cutting-edge technology that the crew of Squadron Interception Unit, Third Army Corps, are testing on the battlefield for a US arms enterprise, looking to undermine President Putin's new weapon of choice. The jets closed to 110 kilometres, only 40 kilometres shy of bombing range. A third Sukhoi jet appeared. 'They're too far out for us to go to the bomb shelter — and if they launch anti-radar missiles, we won't have time anyway,' Kingston said with a wry grin. 'Don't rush, our radar is off,' said a voice over the radio. Kingston's display shows the scanner from another, more powerful radar, further from the front. The jets cannot hunt Kingston and his comrades with their battery's radar down. Instead, they veer south, releasing their bombs at a less fortunate group of Ukrainians. Nor was the Ukrainian battery hunting the Russian jets. They were focused on another prey. 'No Shaheds yet,' the voice on the radio signed off. Putin is gambling that the long-range Shahed suicide drone could prove to be the decisive weapon of this war. Russian troops are launching hundreds of them a night, terrorising cities in an effort to finally break the will of the Ukrainian people after more than three years of fighting. • Why Ukraine's newest weapons offer a glimpse of the future of war Moscow believes the Iranian design, complemented by cheap Chinese components, can force Kyiv's capitulation. Last month the Kremlin showcased its enormous Shahed production facility at Alabuga on state TV. Production is being ramped up of the weapons, which can now travel up to 1,600 miles with an explosive payload of up to 90kg. Other variants can travel further still. On Thursday the UN said Russia had launched ten times more missile and loitering munition attacks in June this year than the same month last year, killing 232 civilians and injuring 1,343. That was the highest monthly toll in three years, according to the UN. In the latest massive combined missile and drone attack on Kyiv on Wednesday 31 people were killed, including a two-year-old and four other children, and another 159 wounded, according to the Ukrainian authorities. Enormous waves of Shaheds are saturating Ukraine's air defences, forcing them to expend expensive missiles made in far smaller numbers on western production lines. 'By winter we'll be seeing thousands of Shaheds per day, and our government is only now starting to look for solutions,' said Odesit, the battery commander. 'Those solutions were needed yesterday.' The Third Army Corps, under the command of Colonel Andriy Biletsky, has decided not to wait for the slow wheels of Ukraine's government procurement to turn. Instead, it has thrown open its sector of the front to western arms companies for testing, research and development. The interception unit is pioneering the use of technology from an American start-up in the hope it can be scaled up to save Ukraine's cities. Outside the control cabin, stacks of small, fast interceptors wait to be launched, shielded from the rain under sheets of tarpaulin. Sleek and grey like missiles but with wings and miniature propellers, these semi-autonomous drones fly much faster than the Shaheds, homing in on their thermal signatures in order to strike them and explode. 'In a month and half, we downed 60 to 70 Shaheds,' said Odesit. 'We were already trying to hit them even when we just had first-person-view drones. But when we finally got a system that could technically do it, it was euphoria.' The Russians soon realised they had a problem in the battery's area of operation. 'A couple of weeks ago they made a major improvement to the Shahed. It senses something is coming for it,' said Odesit. 'They dodge now. Just before impact, they start manoeuvring. We were the first to encounter it because we downed so many. They tested this on us. It's a new problem we are trying to solve.' The interceptor manufacturer had already sent new equipment to counter the manoeuvres, the men of Third Army Corps said. While the battery waited for another wave of Shaheds, the crew played back video of their most recent successful shoot-down. Their equipment's sensors track heat and movement far further than the human eye can see. • Roger Boyes: Europe must keep Ukraine armed until 2027 A pilot guides the interceptor towards the Shahed at high speed using a controller taken from a popular games console. He locks on to the target. The thermal imaging camera relays each detail of the Shahed's engine back to the battery as the interceptor closes on its target, then strikes. These interceptors are the most effective his unit has tried, Odesit said, although arms companies are racing to provide the best solution to the Shahed attacks. 'We've identified two more interesting types of fixed-wing drones — and people went to train on them. They'll come back and we'll test them in combat conditions,' he said. 'Everything that's advertised as interceptors is mostly hype. The truly effective ones are very few.' The new technology does not always work smoothly. The soldiers have to contact a remote tech support to overcome error messages flashing on screen among lines of code and English-language prompts. Computers, routers and controls are restarted in sequences. 'It's endless,' said Odesit. 'The more complex the technology, the more problems.' The men have had to become rudimentary electricians, fixing cables and testing connections. Their battlefield tests were designed to eliminate these 'bugs', Odesit stressed, praising the manufacturer for providing 24-hour tech support. The soldiers' frontline feedback is vital to improving the system, which they believe is on track to solving the Shahed problem for the entire country. Meanwhile, the radar screens are alight with activity. A wave of Shaheds is attacking Odesa across the sea from Crimea. A Ukrainian helicopter marked blue is engaging a Shahed marked red with a machine gun over the Donbas. A Ukrainian equivalent to the Shahed, Liutiy long-range kamikaze drones, are descending on Russia's Millerovo air base. Millerovo is the primary launch site for drones crossing the battery's operational area and it was hit hard the night before, the crew said. So they settled in for a quiet night, sipping energy drinks to stay focused until their shift finished. The Times departed shortly beforehand for the nearby town of Izyum only to discover that, after seeing their aircraft shot down en masse at night, the Russian Shahed operators here had changed tactics. It was already broad daylight on a weekday morning when the distinctive whine of a Shahed engine finally appeared above the town, growing ever louder as it flew closer. Humming harder as it descended, it skimmed ten metres above the building accommodating The Times, before crashing into a warehouse some 500 metres away. A second followed, sending a grey smoke plume into the air. It is not only the technology that can change and surprise, the Russians have proven. 'The enemy quickly finds countermeasures,' said Odesit. 'Then we find counter-countermeasures. It's constant competition. Whoever's a step ahead gets results.'
