RussiaJuly 16, 2026 2:58 am • 2 min readRussian presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev attends an expanded meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry Board at the National Defense Control Center in Moscow on Dec. 21, 2022. (Sergey Fadeichev / AFP)Russia's naval strategic nuclear forces are prepared for combat in any maritime sector, Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev said on July 15 in an interview with the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev, former chief of the FSB intelligence agency as well as secretary of the Security Council, is the head of Russia's Maritime Collegium — a body created by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2024 and tasked with preserving Moscow's naval dominance. His remarks come as Ukraine wages a sustained drone campaign against Russian shipping in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea."The Russian Navy is capable of ensuring the country's security across all maritime and oceanic theaters under any scenario," Patrushev claimed. "Our naval strategic nuclear forces maintain a state of full combat readiness."Patrushev said that Russia was prepared to defend its national interests both near its borders and in "various regions of the global ocean." He claimed that the Navy was taking into account "all threats posed by potential adversaries" in planning its development strategy through the year 2050, including its long-term shipbuilding strategy. The reference to the fleet's nuclear readiness comes about two months after Russia conducted large-scale exercises involving its nuclear forces from May 19-21. The drills included naval, land-based, and aerial forces. Russia's Northern and Pacific fleets took part in the exercises, which featured 73 surface ships and 13 submarines, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Eight of the submarines were reportedly armed with strategic missiles. Despite the nuclear posturing, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had recently received an "unequivocal" message from China that the use of nuclear weapons was not an option.At the recent NATO Summit in Turkey, Zelensky said European leaders told him that China had reacted strongly to statements in the Russian media about the possible use of nuclear weapons. "I think you heard such voices in Russian media: 'What if we respond to Ukrainian strikes with nuclear weapons?' And it seems to me that this was the first time China ... directly responded in an ultimatum-like form — that there can be no thought whatsoever of using nuclear weapons," Zelensky told reporters on July 9. Russia's navy remains the third most powerful in the world, according to public assessments, trailing only the United States and China. But the full-scale war has exposed vulnerabilities in its Black Sea operations, where Ukraine has managed to push back one of the Kremlin's most prized military assets.Recently, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces have taken aim at Russian commercial vessels in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Ukraine has already reported striking over 100 targets in Russia's key maritime corridors. News FeedThursday, July 162:58 am "Our naval strategic nuclear forces maintain a state of full combat readiness," Russian Presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview with the state outlet RIA Novosti. 1:31 am Explosions rocked Kyiv shortly before 1 a.m. local time, according to Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground. Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyv City Military Administration, reported that Russia was attacking the city with ballistic missiles. 12:34 am The new measures, adopted based on proposals from Ukraine's National Bank, aim to stop Russia from using modern financial instruments, such as cryptocurrency, to circumvent sanctions and make international payments. Wednesday, July 1512:28 pm (Updated: July 15, 2026 11:48 pm) Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said the president had formally submitted his nomination for Serhii Koretskyi to be the next prime minister of Ukraine. 8:15 pm (Updated: July 15, 2026 11:05 pm) Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has been offered the role of Ukraine's next defense minister, a lawmaker from the governing Servant of the People party told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.10:43 pm10:35 pm The decision appears to have been made at the last minute, according to one official, who said reports of Vitalii Kim's expected appointment caught even his own team off guard.8:52 pm (Updated: July 15, 2026 10:01 pm)War7:58 pm "The election results will have no impact on this escalation, because the results will be known before the election," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.3:17 pm (Updated: July 15, 2026 7:44 pm) The U.S. has begun the process of granting Ukraine licenses to produce Patriot missiles, moving the matter beyond political statements, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent.6:48 pm The 21st sanctions package was supposed to be agreed on on July 15, but two EU officials confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that Greece was refusing to compromise on its hardline position against proposals to stop EU countries trading LNG to third countries.2:51 pm (Updated: July 15, 2026 5:46 pm) The EU also announced a 10-billion-euro ($11 billion) funding plan for additional drones, missiles, and fighter aircraft for Ukraine.5:16 pm "There must be no Russian shadow on a banknote honoring the poet whom Russia killed," said Andriy Pyshnyy, governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.3:05 pm The strikes are part of Ukraine's ongoing effort to isolate occupied Crimea by disrupting the military and commercial infrastructure that sustains the peninsula.Show More