MOSCOW (Dispatches) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has warned that NATO nuclear facilities would become a military target for Russia if they were permanently located on the Polish territory.
“The expansion of the practice of joint NATO nuclear missions - regardless of who becomes that country or those countries that can join those already participating in this practice - is of a purely destabilizing nature. And in fact, threatening,” Ryabkov said in an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency.
He said that the approach of joint nuclear missions by NATO countries near Russian borders exacerbates security threats.
“I’m not even talking about permanent deployment, which is also being hotly discussed by hotheads in Warsaw. Therefore, all those politicians who are now enthusiastically discussing such a scheme in Poland and beyond, for their own reasons, must understand: shifts in this direction will not add to Poland’s security, but the corresponding facilities will certainly become a target. They will be at the forefront in our military planning,” he stressed.
Ryabkov referred to the ongoing discussion about deploying NATO nuclear facilities in Poland as an “evolving story”.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, in an interview with the Fakt newspaper on Monday, stated that the Polish authorities have repeatedly discussed with the United States the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons in Poland within the framework of NATO’s nuclear sharing arrangements and expressed readiness for it if necessary.
On Friday, Russian forces have struck a freight train carrying military equipment supplied to Ukrainian forces by Kyiv’s Western backers, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.
The combined attack involved aircraft, missiles and artillery, the ministry said in a statement.
“A train with Western weapons and military equipment was hit in the area of the settlement of Udachnoye in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic,” it added.
Udachnoye, translated as ‘lucky’ in English, is located in the western part of the republic.
Personnel and equipment from the 67th Ukrainian mechanized brigade were also struck at a railway loading station in the area of Balakleya in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, the ministry said.
The flow of Western aid to Ukraine decreased drastically in recent months as Republicans in the U.S. Congress resisted attempts by President Joe Biden to push through another $61 billion in military assistance for Kyiv. The standoff, which had dragged on since the autumn, was resolved earlier this week when lawmakers passed the legislation and Biden signed off on it.
Earlier, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the delays in aid from the U.S. and the EU had led to “consequences” on the battlefield. Ukrainian forces have been “outgunned, allowing Russia to push forward on the front line,” he said. Stoltenberg argued, however, that “it is not too late for Ukraine to prevail because more support is on the way.” 
Russia has repeatedly warned that foreign weapons deliveries to Kyiv will not prevent Moscow from achieving its military goals, but will merely prolong the fighting and could increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. According to officials in Moscow, the provision of arms, intelligence-sharing, and training of Ukrainian troops means that Western nations have already become de facto parties to the conflict.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia is considering the option of lowering the level of diplomatic relations with the United States if Washington takes practical measures to confiscate its assets, RIA Novosti reported.