Tonight has brought another announcement from Vladimir Putin regarding his country’s nuclear arsenal.
The Russian president says he has signed a deal with neighbouring Belarus allowing such weapons to be kept there.
For more on this, scroll down to our breaking post from 17.28.
But just how big is Russia’s nuclear arsenal?
Thousands of warheads at Putin’s disposal
Russia has the world’s biggest store of nuclear warheads, standing in 2022 at an estimated 5,977.
That compares to 5,428 for the US, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
The US and Russia have both accused each other of developing newer types of nuclear weapons, but neither have tested any for decades.
The US last did so in 1992, and the Soviet Union in 1990.
Of Russia’s total, around 1,500 are retired but probably still intact, around 2,800 are in reserve, and more than 1,500 are deployed on land-based or submarine-based missiles, or at heavy bomber bases.
It’s way down on the 40,000 warheads the Soviet Union had at the peak of the Cold War, but still enough to destroy the world several times over.
How are weapons delivered?
Russia appears to have around 400 nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles, which can carry more than 1,000 warheads, says the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
It has 10 nuclear-armed nuclear submarines, which could carry a maximum of 800 warheads, and around 60 to 70 bombers.
Mr Putin says 10 planes have been positioned in Belarus that could carry tactical nuclear weapons.
Who gives the order?
Moscow’s nuclear doctrine says the power lies with the president, who carries a so-called nuclear briefcase from where he can order a strike.
It links the president to his top military commanders and then to Russia’s nuclear forces via a secret communications network.
