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Putin vows to boost combat readiness of Russia's nuclear forces

The Russian leader says there are no financial limits on what Moscow would provide in terms of military equipment even as he urges defence officials to learn from and fix problems in its operation in Ukraine.

AFP

In his meeting with defence officials, Putin says what is happening in Ukraine is a "shared tragedy", but places full blame for the outbreak of hostilities on Ukraine and its Western allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to step up the combat readiness of his country's nuclear forces, as he announced a series of actions to boost the country's defences, including the launch in January of a new hypersonic cruise missile for its navy.

"The armed forces and combat capabilities of our armed forces are increasing constantly and every day. And this process, of course, we will build up on," Putin said at a televised meeting with defence officials on Wednesday.

He said that Russia will also "improve the combat readiness of our nuclear triad".

In the same speech, Putin also said Moscow will start arming its navy with new hypersonic cruise missiles by January.

"Beginning January, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate will be equipped with the new Zircon hypersonic missile, which has no equivalent in the world," Putin said.

New military bases in Ukraine

During the meeting, his defence minister Sergei Shoigu noted that Russian servicemen in Ukraine are fighting "the combined forces of the West".

He said that Moscow plans to use two Ukrainian port cities on the Sea of Azov as Russian military bases.

"The ports in Berdyansk and Mariupol are fully functioning. We plan to deploy their bases for support vessels, emergency rescue services and ship repair units of the navy," Shoigu added.

Nearly ten months into the fighting, Russia has faced a series of military challenges on the ground in Ukraine.

Putin said the Russian army has to learn from and fix the problems, promising to give the military whatever it needed to prosecute a war nearing the end of its 10th month.

But he also said that there are no financial limits on what the government would provide in terms of equipment and hardware to boost the military.

"We have no funding restrictions. The country and the government are providing everything that the army asks for," he said.

Reuters

Putin announced that Moscow will launch in January new hypersonic cruise missiles for its navy.

'Shared tragedy'

But Putin also acknowledged, not for the first time, that the call-up of 300,000 reservists that he ordered in September had not gone smoothly.

"The partial mobilisation that was carried out revealed certain problems, as everyone well knows, which should be promptly addressed," he said.

Putin said that what is happening in Ukraine is a "shared tragedy", even as he placed blame on the outbreak of hostilities on Ukraine and its allies, not Moscow.

"What is happening is, of course, a tragedy - our shared tragedy. But it is not the result of our policy. It is the result of the policy of third countries," the Russian leader said during a televised meeting with senior military officials.

He also referred to other unspecified problems in the military and said that constructive criticism should be heeded.

It was the latest in a series of recent comments in which Putin has acknowledged obliquely the challenges his army is facing.

On Tuesday, he had told security officers that the situation in four regions of Ukraine that Russia has claimed as its own territory - something Kiev rejects - was “highly complicated”.