Vladimir Putin begins his fifth, six-year term as Russian president Tuesday, May 7. He has led the country for over 24 years. As Russia continues its prolonged conflict with Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry announced plans on Monday for tactical nuclear weapon drills in the near future.

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These exercises aim to prepare Russia’s non-strategic nuclear forces for combat missions. The Defense Ministry stated the drills are in response to recent “provocative statements” from Western officials, necessitating “retaliatory measures.”

Last week, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated that Ukraine had the right to use weapons provided by London to strike targets inside Russia. He said it was up to Kyiv to decide whether to do so.

“Russia has launched an attack into Ukraine and Ukraine absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia,” Cameron said. “Including inside Russia? Well, that’s a decision for Ukraine. And Ukraine has that right. Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine. You can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it’s defending itself. It’s getting the Russians out of its country and it has the ability to strike back.”

In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Cameron’s remarks were an admission that the West is waging war against Russia using Ukrainian hands.

“On May 2, the former Prime Minister, current Foreign minister of Britain David Cameron during an interview to Reuters agency suddenly claimed that Ukraine has the right to perform strikes, as he said it, against the Russian territory, using British weapons,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. “There was a formidable fuss in the world’s media, British included. Why so? Because it’s the first time that a Western politician admitted something that is already an open secret to all the countries of the world’s majority — the West is conducting a flat-out war against Russia with the hands of the Ukrainians.”

The escalation in tensions coincides with French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement to The Economist that he would consider sending French troops to Ukraine if Russia “were to break through the front lines,” adding that if Russia defeated Ukraine, they would likely attack another European country. Macron said he was determined to prevent a Russian victory.