Trump says that nuclear submarines are “in the region” while the deadline for Russia is looming
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President Donald Trump told journalists on Sunday that the nuclear submarines he had ordered to counter Russia were now “in the region” “before the visit of the Steve Witkoff special envoy.
Before embarking Air Force One in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to return to Washington, DC, Trump was invited to say if the nuclear submarines had already been deployed to “face Russia”. Trump said on Friday on Truth Social that he had ordered two nuclear submarines “in the appropriate regions” in response to what he considered “very provocative declarations” of former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on the potential war with the United States
“I have already published a statement and the answer is that they are in the region, yes, where they must be,” Trump told journalists at Lehigh Valley International Airport on Sunday.
Trump said Witkoff should go to Russia on Wednesday or Thursday “. The Russian state media reported on Monday that Witkoff would arrive on Wednesday. The visit comes before the deadline of Friday that Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a cease-fire agreement with Ukraine or faces additional sanctions and prices. Trump also warned of potential secondary rates for Russian energy buyers.
Trump Retrait to Medvedev of Russia after the warning of “War”: “ Look at his words ”
President Donald Trump speaks with journalists before embarking Air Force One at Lehigh Valley International Airport, Sunday August 3, 2025, in Alentown, Pennsylvania. (AP photo / Julia Demaoree Nikhinson)
“Well, there will be sanctions, but they seem to be good enough to avoid sanctions. You know, they are raying characters, and they are good enough to avoid sanctions,” Trump told journalists in front of Marine One. “So we will see what’s going on.”
Asked about Witkoff’s message in Moscow and if there is something that the Russians can do to avoid sanctions, Trump said on Sunday: “Yes, get an agreement where people stop being killed.”
“A large number of Russian soldiers have been killed. And similarly Ukraine, a lower number, but still thousands and thousands of people. And now we are adding cities where they are struck by missiles. It is a lot of people killed in this ridiculous war,” said Trump. “We have arrested many countries of war, India and Pakistan, we have stopped a lot of countries. And we are also going to stop. In one way or another. We are going to arrest this one. It is a really horrible war.”
“It should be the easiest to stop, and that is not the case,” added Trump.
Before ordering the deployment of nuclear submarines last week, Trump warned Medvedev, vice-president of the Russian Security Council, to “monitor his words”. Medvedev complained that Trump had shortened the Russian-fire-fire deadline from 50 days to only 10 to 12 days, saying that “Ultimatum” was a threat to war “not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country”.
In this photo published by the Xinhua news agency, Chinese and Russian warships participate in joint naval exercises in the Eastern China Sea on December 27, 2022. (Xu wei / xinhua via AP, file)
Despite Trump informed that Medvedev entered a “dangerous territory”, the Russian official doubled and referenced the “dead hand” of Russia – the automated nuclear reprisal system of the Cold War developed by the Soviet Union.
The United States and Russia have the largest nuclear arsenals in the world.
Meanwhile, Beijing and Moscow have deepened their links in recent years, China providing an economic rescue to Russia in the face of Western sanctions on the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia and China have started simulated fighting exercises and other war games in the Japan Sea, The telegraph reported. Citing a declaration from the Chinese Ministry of Defense, the newspaper said that the three-day exercise implies four Chinese ships, including destructive guided missiles Shaoxing and Urumqi, and implies “underwater rescue, a joint anti-Submarine, air defense and anti-missile operations, and maritime fight”, as well as naval patrons in the “relevant versions of the Pacific”.
At a press conference announcing the details of the annual exercises last week, the spokesman for the Chinese Defense Ministry, Zhang Xiaogang, said that the joint exercise Sea 2025 would take place in the air and the seas near the Russian port city of Vladivostok, positioned through the sea of the west coast of Japan. Last year, the exercise was selected from southern China to the Southern China Sea.
“This is an arrangement in the annual cooperation plan between the Chinese and Russian soldiers. It is not targeted to any third party, nor linked to the current international and regional situation,” said Zhang.
China and Russia also signed an “limitless” economic partnership shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine.
President Donald Trump speaks with journalists before embarking Air Force One at Lehigh Valley International Airport, Sunday August 3, 2025, in Alentown, Pennsylvania. (AP photo / Julia Demaoree Nikhinson)
Zhang has criticized current exercises that the US Air Force leads with Japan and other Western Pacific partners. Resolute Force Pacific is the greatest exercise of response to the contribution ever led by the Air Force in the region, according to the American army. The US Air Force said that their exercise would lead to its forces to maintain preparation and execute missions under stress to demonstrate its ability to defend the United States and the Pacific partner countries.
“The United States has blinded muscles blindly in the Asia-Pacific region and has tried to use military exercises as a pretext to connect, intimidate and put pressure on other countries, and undermine peace and stability in the region,” Zhang told journalists.
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The Japanese Defense Ministry said in an annual report earlier this month than China’s growing military cooperation with Russia posed serious security problems.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
