This development comes as Australia donates another 30 Bushmaster armoured vehicles to Ukraine and sends defence trainers to the United Kingdom.
Russia is rehearsing its response to a nuclear attack on Wednesday (October 26) in an exercise involving strategic nuclear forces at a time when tensions are high over a "dirty bomb" allegation it has made against Ukraine.
The prospect of a new setback for Russia after its troops retreated from Kyiv and later in the northeast has fuelled fears that Moscow could use a nuclear weapon.
