Russia Deploys Vessels With Nuclear Weapons In Baltic Sea, 'Serious Threat' To NATO Countries

The Russian army has begun deploying vessels carrying tactical nuclear warheads in the Baltic Sea, according to a report.

The annual report, posted by the Norwegian Intelligence Service, noted that this is the first time the Russian army has deployed the vessels, called the Northern Fleet, in the Baltic Sea in the last three decades. The fleet was regularly deployed during the Cold War.

"The key part of the nuclear potential is on the submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet," the report said, as translated by POLITICO. "[They pose] a particularly serious threat in several operational scenarios in which NATO countries may be involved."

The Norwegian Intelligence Services also added it cannot rule out the involvement of the United States, NATO and Norway should the war in Ukraine escalate and expand into a wider conflict.

The news comes as the war in Ukraine extends into its 12th month. Russia is bombarding several Ukrainian cities in what could be its new offensive.

Much of the Russian artillery fired Tuesday focused on Bakhmut, a besieged city in the temporarily occupied region of Donetsk that has been the site of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops over the past months.

"There is not a single square meter in Bakhmut that is safe or that is not in range of enemy fire or drones," regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukraine's national broadcaster, as quoted by Reuters.

Should Russia successfully capture Bakhmut, it would give Moscow a stepping stone to advance on two big cities in the region, specifically Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. It could also serve as a morale booster for the country, which has seen numerous setbacks following its invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Intense fighting was also reported in the eastern mining town of Vuhledar where the Russian army suffered significant losses. In fact, only eight men survived in one of the 55th Guard's Naval Infantry Brigade's units after fighting against Ukrainian armed forces, a surviving marine told Russia's 7x7 regional news site Monday.

As of Tuesday, Russia lost a total of 139,080 military personnel in the war in Ukraine, including 740 soldiers who were killed over the past day, as per estimates from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.