 A terrible war between Russia and Ukraine has started on the territory of Sudan. When Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan's military ruler, found himself besieged by rebel forces in the country's capital last summer, he called an unlikely ally for help, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the Wall Street Journal. It is noted that Zelensky had reasons to take the request seriously. Burhan had been quietly supplying Kiev with weapons since shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, according to Ukrainian and Sudanese military officials. In addition, the Sudanese rebels were backed by Russia's Wagner paramilitary group, which has also mined gold in the country and used it to fund Moscow's war in Ukraine. Ukrainian Timur special forces are active in the civil war in Sudan. Not much information is available in the public domain about the Ukrainian military's presence in Sudan. Matthew Orr, Eurasia analyst at the Risk Intelligence Company, Reign, told the New Arab. Sudan's brutal war between the Sudanese armed forces under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary rapid support forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Hemedti Dagalo erupted last April. It has since killed over 10,000 people, displaced 6 million within the country, and caused another 1.7 million to flee to neighboring countries. Less than a week into the war, reports emerged that Wagner Group supplied the rapid support forces with surface-to-air missiles. There were also indications in September that Ukrainian special services were operating in Sudan, targeting Wagner and the rapid support forces. Sudan would be a strategically logical target for Russian mercenaries' activities as neighboring Central African Republic is one of the places where Russian mercenaries under the Russia's main directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces are most active while ensuring access to Sudan would fit within Russia's broader Sahelian strategy, or, said. On the other hand, the strategic usefulness of Ukraine's activities is dubious since it needs all available resources to defend its own territory. Nevertheless, Ukraine doesn't necessarily see it that way. Kiev likely believes that the few resources spent exaggerating the mere threat of such attacks on Russian interests in Sudan opened the possibility of similar attacks across Russian activities in the Middle East and Africa, forcing Moscow to expand disproportionate resources to secure against such activities in new geographies, or, said. Risk of Russian tactical nuclear strike, higher than thought. Russia's threshold for using shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons may be lower than defence experts in the West believe. The Financial Times has claimed cited purported Russian military documents. The materials, which were allegedly presentations for Russian naval officers, discussed operating principles for the use of nuclear weapons the Financial Times reported. They were supposedly produced between 2008 and 2014 and shared with the British outlet by Western sources. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the newspaper that Russia strongly doubts the authenticity of the documents. Moscow's military doctrine allows for the deployment of nuclear weapons in retaliation to a first strike against it, or its allies, or in situations where Russian statehood is threatened. Senior officials including President Vladimir Putin have drawn attention to the country's nuclear arsenal amid the Ukraine conflict. The US and its allies have accused the Russian leader of nuclear blackmail, although Moscow has rejected that allegation. The criteria for the use of nuclear weapons in the documents reviewed by the FT included losses by Russian forces that would irrevocably lead to their failure to stop major enemy aggression and a critical situation for the state security of Russia. The destruction of 20% of Russia's strategic missile submarines, 30% of nuclear-powered attack submarines, or a simultaneous hit on main and reserve coastal command centres were cited as specific examples. France insists on sending Western troops to Ukraine, Russia promises catastrophic scenario. The Elishe Palace, after French President Emmanuel Macron's statement about the possibility of sending troops from Western powers to Ukraine, insists that Kiev's allies should discuss this issue. As the source explained to CNN with his statements, Macron signalled his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about his determination and desire of France to prevent any victory of the full-scale Russian invasion. The source stressed that the French President did not talk about the actual departure of troops and no decision was made on this, but there are all sorts of things that were ruled out two years ago and which are no longer ruled out. Macron has not ruled out the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine in the future after a meeting in Paris emphasising that there is currently no consensus among allies. A number of European states and NATO have since stated that they do not plan to send any troops to Ukraine. The potential deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine will lead to a catastrophic scenario and could be interpreted as a declaration of war on Moscow, top Russian senator Konstantin Kossachev has said. The vice-speaker of Russia's upper chamber, the Federation Council, offered his take on remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron on the possibility of sending troops in a telegram post. The approach exhibited by the French leader carries a risk of the situation developing into a catastrophic scenario, Kossachev warned, stating that the move would not be tolerated by the Kremlin. This is the line beyond which it's no longer just NATO's involvement in the war. This has been happening for a long time, but can be interpreted as the alliance entering direct hostilities or even as a declaration of war, Kossachev wrote. The senator's comments echoed a statement made by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov who said the move would make a direct collision between the US-led bloc and Moscow not only possible but actually inevitable.