Missiles roll over northwest Russia as part of a nuclear unit test

In the most recent of several warnings to Ukraine and the West, Russia’s defense ministry announced on Friday that it is testing the preparedness of a missile unit that is a component of its strategic nuclear capabilities.

The test is being held in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, the same week that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced his “victory plan” for the war and NATO held its yearly nuclear drill.

A unit armed with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles, which can launch multiple nuclear warheads and have a range of up to 11,000 km (6,835 miles)—far enough to hit American cities—is involved in the inspection.

According to the ministry, troops are testing moving the missiles in the field for up to 100 km (62 miles) while camouflaged and shielded from enemy sabotage units and air attacks.

The missiles were seen rolling out of hangars on enormous wheeled mobile launchers and traveling by road at night in a video released by the military news channel Zvezda, which featured dramatic music. Soldiers were seen shooting weapons and going through trees in other footage.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Moscow had lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons by expanding the list of situations that could lead to their use.

NATO’s new leader, Mark Rutte, has stated that the alliance will not be intimidated by Russian threats after Ukraine accused Moscow of nuclear blackmail.

In July of last year, Russia conducted two rounds of Yars missile unit drills. Additionally, it has conducted three sets of exercises this year to evaluate readiness for the deployment of tactical nuclear missiles, which are less effective than intercontinental strategic rockets in terms of yield and range.

Putin has often emphasized that Moscow possesses the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, but he has maintained that it does not require nuclear weapons to win battles since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Separately, the defense ministry announced Friday that it had tested a Kalibr cruise missile, another weapon that can carry a nuclear payload.
According to the report, the Kalibr was fired from a warship in the Barents Sea and struck a target in the northern Russian region of Arkhangelsk more than 1,300 kilometers away.