As the Russia-Ukraine war drags into its third year with no end in sight, recent developments suggest that the conflict is rapidly metastasising into a global strategic crisis. The combination of sharpened nuclear rhetoric, fresh missile deployments, shifting alliances, and failed diplomacy presents a volatile cocktail—one that risks spiralling far beyond the Donbas.

During a recent campaign event in Ohio, US President Donald Trump made a startling reference to “two nuclear submarines you don’t even know about, positioned exactly where they should be.” Although he offered no further details, many analysts interpreted this statement as a thinly veiled warning to Russia amid fears of nuclear escalation.

The ambiguity of Trump’s remarks, laced with his characteristic bravado, raises multiple concerns. Firstly, it suggests an embrace of strategic opacity, an attempt to project deterrence without concrete action. Secondly, it represents a pivot towards nuclear sabre-rattling in a conflict where the nuclear question has loomed large but remained largely rhetorical. And thirdly, it complicates diplomatic outreach by replacing strategic clarity with provocative innuendo.

In a parallel development, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of serial production of the new Orechkin missile system, described by the Russian Ministry of Defence as a hypersonic, nuclear-capable, multi-vector strike platform. The timing of this revelation is crucial: it follows Russia’s official withdrawal from its unilateral moratorium on intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) and appears to be Moscow’s answer to NATO’s enhanced missile deployments in Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

Putin’s statement was not simply about a new weapon; it was a doctrinal shift. He argued that Russia “can no longer afford restraint in the face of NATO encirclement,” pointing specifically to the deployment of US missile systems in Poland, Romania, and........

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