 A recently leaked recording of senior German officers discussing a potential attack on the Crimean bridge leaves no doubt that Berlin is preparing for a military conflict with Moscow. The former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, warned on his Telegram channel, Medvedev, who is currently deputy head of the Russian Security Council, was commenting on audio that surfaced earlier last week. The story was broken by RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonian, who said she had received the recording from Russian security officials, the 38-minute-long recording, reportedly from February 19th, contained a conversation between four officers of the German Air Force, including its commander, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhardtz. They were discussing operational and targeting details of tourist long-range missiles which Berlin was considering supplying to Kiev. The officers particularly explored the option of the missiles being used against the Crimean bridge and spoke about maintaining plausible deniability in the event of such an attack. The leak sparked a major scandal in Germany, with many senior MPs calling for the nation's counterintelligence efforts to be enhanced. The German Defense Ministry confirmed the authenticity of the recording but neither the military nor Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government have commented on the plans discussed by the senior officers, Medvedev assumed that Berlin would now try to claim it had known nothing of the military discussions taking place. He also stated that the German authorities could call the leaked conversation a purely hypothetical one and say that the military was obsessed with playing mock battles. Any attempts to present the Bundeswehr officer's conversation is just a game with missiles and tanks would be a malicious lie, the former president warned. Germany is preparing for a war with Russia. Medvedev also said that the position of Scholz's cabinet might eventually be irrelevant when it comes to the standoff between Moscow and Berlin. History knows many examples when the military were capable of taking decisions for their civilian superiors about starting a war or just instigating conflict, he added. He particularly pointed to a hypothetical provocation scenario in which the German military might convince Scholz that Russian forces had launched a missile at Berlin, which had been intercepted, various German officials have recently raised the issue of a potential war with Russia. The nation's health minister, Karl Lauterbach, said that Germany should improve its healthcare system for it to be able to swiftly respond to major disasters like a military conflict. Abrams tank destroyed in Ukraine conflict. One of Ukraine's US supplied M1 Abrams tanks looks to have sustained significant damage and appears to be the first loss of one of these prized tanks in combat in the country. Evidence that Ukrainian Abrams tanks had finally entered the fight only recently began to emerge. This also comes amid concerns about the ability of Ukraine's armed forces to sustain these tanks in the long term. So Moscow's troops have destroyed the first US-made M1 Abrams main battle tank supplied to Kiev's forces amid the Ukraine conflict, multiple Russian Telegram channels reported. Footage circulating online purported to show the vehicle with a large column of fire rising from its turret. It was reportedly targeted by an FPV Suicide drone and sustained at least one hit from a shoulder-mounted anti-tank grenade launcher. The tank was reportedly hit near the village of Burdichi, located to the northwest of Avdivka, a key Donbas town recently liberated by Russian forces. A close-up of the destroyed Abrams taken by a surveillance drone shows the vehicle's ammunition compartment burned out with the engine compartment on fire. Washington pledged to supply Ukraine with 31 M1 Abrams tanks in January 2022 ahead of Kiev's long-hyped yet ultimately botched counter-offensive. However, they were fully delivered only by mid-October and have seemingly been kept away from the front line being featured only in propaganda videos. The Ukrainian Abrams have seen actual combat only over the past few days, ending up deployed to the battlefield to bolster Kiev's effort to stop the westward advance of Russian troops following the fall of Avdivka, formerly a major Ukrainian stronghold in Donbas and one of the key staging points for indiscriminate artillery and rocket attacks on the city of Donetsk. What may have been used to attack the tank, what happened to its crew and whether Ukrainian forces were in a position to recover it or if the Russians may have now captured it are all unknown. Medvedev threatens Berlin, London and Washington with nuclear retaliation. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Federation's Security Council, has threatened the United States and Europe with nuclear war if Russia is returned to its recognized borders from 1991. He said this on his Telegram channel. Medvedev wondered what would happen if Russia lost the war against neo-Nazis along with their western sponsors and returned to its 1991 borders. He speaks to this outcome as the irreversible collapse of present-day Russia which under the constitution includes new territories. Medvedev believes that after that a civil war with tens of millions of victims and the death of the future of Russia will begin. And now for the main question. Do these idiots truly believe that the Russian people will simply swallow such a consequential partitioning of their country? That we will all think, unfortunately it happened. They won. Russia as we know it today no longer exists. It is unfortunate of course but we must continue to live in a country that is collapsing and dying because a nuclear war is far worse for us than the death of our loved ones. Children, Russia, and that's the state's leadership led by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces would be hesitant to make difficult decisions in this case. Hear me out. It will be totally different. The collapse of Russia will have far worse consequences than the outcome of a conventional even long-term war because attempting to return Russia to its 1991 borders will only lead to one outcome. Do a global war with western countries utilizing our entire strategic arsenal? In Kiev, Berlin, London, and Washington. For all other beautiful historical sites which have long been included in our nuclear triads attack goals. Will we have enough guts for this if a thousand year old country? Our great homeland is on the verge of extinction and the sacrifices made by the Russian people over the centuries are in vain? The answer is obvious. Medvedev added.