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Russia said on Wednesday that its forces had practiced nuclear-capable missile strikes in the western cantonment of Kaliningrad, as part of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine. The statement came on the 70th day of Moscow’s military intervention in the pro-Western country, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and more than 13 million displaced people in Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Following the deployment of troops to Ukraine in late February, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued veiled threats implying a willingness to deploy Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.
Russia practiced simulated “electronic launches” of nuke Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems during Wednesday’s war games in the Baltic Sea enclave located between EU members Poland and Lithuania, the defense ministry said in a statement.
The Russian forces practiced single and multiple strikes on targets such as missile launchers, airfields, protected infrastructure, military equipment, and mock enemy command posts, according to the statement.
Following the “electronic” launches, the military personnel performed a manoeuvre to change their position in order to avoid “a potential retaliatory strike,” according to the defence ministry.
The combat troops also practised “actions in radiation and chemical contamination conditions.”
More than 100 servicemen took part in the drills.
Russia activated its nuclear forces shortly after Putin dispatched troops to Ukraine on February 24.
If the West intervenes directly in the Ukraine conflict, the Kremlin chief has warned of “lightning fast” retaliation.
According to observers, Russia’s state television has recently attempted to make the use of nuclear weapons more acceptable to the public.
“We have been hearing from our television screens for two weeks that nuclear silos should be opened,” Dmitry Muratov, a Russian newspaper editor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said on Tuesday.
