The “first stage” of the exercises involves Iskander and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and is seen as a warning to Ukraine's Western allies.
Russia has begun the first stage of tactical nuclear weapons exercises, with Iskander and Kinzhal missiles, in border areas with Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the exercises were taking place in its Southern Military District, which borders and includes parts of Ukraine that Moscow has illegally occupied and annexed since it began its large-scale invasion in February 2022.
The ministry did not provide the exact location of the exercises.
Belarus, where Russia said last year it was deploying tactical nuclear weapons, is also expected to participate.
Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has repeatedly talked about its arsenal of nuclear weapons and its readiness to deploy them in the face of a security threat.
Nuclear analysts say the exercises are designed as a warning signal from Russian President Vladimir Putin to deter Ukraine's Western allies, who have provided weapons and intelligence to kyiv, from delving deeper into the war.
The exercises aim to ensure that units and equipment are ready for “the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons to respond and unconditionally guarantee the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian State in response to provocative statements and threats by individual Western officials against the Russian government. Federation,” the ministry said.
Putin ordered the exercises after Western politicians suggested they might be willing to go further in their support for Ukraine.
Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had not ruled out deploying troops to Ukraine under certain conditions, while UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said kyiv had the right to fire missiles. Westerners against Russian territory.
Russia's Southern Military District is the command center of its offensive against Ukraine, with its headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The Defense Ministry released images showing trucks transporting missiles to a field where launch systems were being prepared and troops at an airfield preparing a bomber to carry a nuclear warhead.
He said the exercises involved practicing loading launch vehicles, driving to designated launch sites and loading aircraft with Kinzhal missiles, which are hypersonic weapons.
He did not indicate whether test shots had been fired.
“The exercises are obviously a signal in response to the discussion about troops from NATO countries in Ukraine,” Nikolai Sokov, a former Soviet and Russian arms control official, told Reuters news agency. “The most important features are early announcement and visibility.”
Western militaries will closely watch the exercises and try to draw conclusions about how much warning time they would have if Russia deployed such weapons for real, he said.
Tactical nuclear weapons, also known as non-strategic nuclear weapons, are designed for use on the battlefield and have enormous destructive potential.
Russia has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists, although there is uncertainty over the exact numbers.
