Russia is testing its nuclear capabilities after the Biden administration promised to send rocket systems to Ukraine.
The reports come from the Interfax News Agency, a news outlet based in Moscow.
The exercises involve the Teykovskaya division of the Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), a special branch of the Russian Armed Forces.
One thousand military personnel and 100 vehicles are said to be participating in the recent drill. The exercises include the vehicles carrying the YARS missile, an ICBM that is reported to travel up to 6,500 miles.
“It is equipped with multiple warheads with maneuvering individual guidance units,” Interfax reported.
The operation also involves Russia’s strategic nuclear forces, capable of nuclear defense or offense.
Russian threats of nuclear war are not new in Putin’s arsenal of political rhetoric. In an opinion essay written by President Joe Biden for the New York Times, he rebutted Vladimir Putin‘s nuclear threats as a bluff but remained cautious about his range of possible actions.
“We currently see no indication that Russia has intent to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, though Russia’s occasional rhetoric to rattle the nuclear saber is itself dangerous and extremely irresponsible,” Biden wrote.
With Russian nuclear forces on standby since February 27, Russian officials have repeatedly made claims of atomic escalation, often pointing to the Ukraine war as a proxy war with the U.S.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned of retaliation for western intervention in the past. Lavrov warned of a “serious” risk of World War III if foreign interference continues.
Ukrainian officials have called Lavrov and Putin’s nuclear threats hollow.
After Russian losses and their failure to capture Kiyv, the nuclear rhetoric from Moscow is considered a sign of Russia’s desperation.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba shrugged off Russian nuclear threats as fiction.
“Russia loses last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine. Thus the talk of a ‘real’ danger of WWIII. This only means Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
