Insistence on staging 'Steadfast Noon' nuclear drill threateningly rash of NATO: China Daily editorial

Citing the "severe security situation" in Ukraine, the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Embassy in Ukraine on Saturday called on Chinese nationals who are still there to evacuate.

The tensions and fears are real.

Security conditions in Ukraine today are far worse than at any time since the crisis began, especially amid the growing rhetoric on the use of nuclear weapons.

Everyone with a sensible mind wants the war in Ukraine to end as soon as possible, with as little bloodshed as possible, and for all the talk about the possibility of nuclear weapons being used to remain just that — talk.

But even though Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated the country's "special military operations" may end in two weeks, so far, an end to the conflict still seems remote, and so there is no way to rule out that worst-case scenario.

The only glimmer of hope surrounding this war, now near the end of its eighth month, is that, until now at least, both sides, Russia and Ukraine, as well as the Western supporters behind it, have been treading carefully to more or less control the scope of the conflict.

Despite its daunting losses on the battlefield, Russia has only resorted to "partial mobilization" at home, and it continues to insist it is engaged in "special military operations" rather than a war. The European Union and the United States and its allies have limited their aid to Ukraine to arms supplies and intelligence support, so that they won't be seen as "participating".

Given that, it is highly irresponsible for North Atlantic Treaty Organization to go ahead with its annual "Steadfast Noon" nuclear preparedness exercise that coincides with Russia's routine "Grom" nuclear drill.

What makes this year's NATO exercises so alarmingly irresponsible is that it is occurring while the West is hyping up the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons. Although the West claims Russia has threatened their use — it hasn't, what Putin has said is "if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people". Meanwhile, threats of using nuclear weapons against Russia are being casually tossed around by unpopular leaders in the US and the United Kingdom who are desperate to buff up their fabricated "wartime leader" credentials to bolster their public image.

As a member of the UN Security Council with friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, China is striving to persuade all stakeholders to guard against any words or deeds that might lead to a miscalculation of truly epic proportions.

In the meantime, considering the substantially escalated Russian attacks on Ukraine targets since the explosion on the Kerch Strait Bridge, there is a pressing need to provide the best possible protection for Chinese nationals remaining in Ukraine.

If Moscow does want to terminate its "special operations" as President Putin has indicated, such strikes will conceivably be harsher in the days to come.

But both sides must know that the earlier they work together to end the conflict the more loss of life they will avoid.

No matter how far they have deviated from the negotiation table, thanks to the instigations of the US, they must also know that the conflict and future security arrangement of the region can only be settled by peaceful negotiations.

But as the staging of the risk-laden "Steadfast Noon" exercise shows, Ukraine's Western supporters don't want that to happen. They have caught the scent of their wounded prey and they want to take advantage of the conflict to debilitate Russia once and for all.