Russia is conducting military drills in its Southern Military District that involve .
The Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, as the operations began, that the first stage envisioned “practical training in the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” including the nuclear-capable Kinzhal and Iksander missiles.
Tactical nuclear weapons are shorter-ranger, lower-yield weapons designed for use in battlefield scenarios against smaller targets, as opposed to the high-yield strategic nuclear weapons designed to target large population centers.
It’s the first time Russia had publicly announced drills involving such weapons, though its strategic nuclear forces hold regular exercises.
The drills were first announced on May 6, with Russia saying they were a response to “provocative statements and threats of certain Western officials regarding the Russian Federation.”
DW’s Eastern Europe editor Roman Goncharenko said the news was not seen as groundbreaking inside Ukraine, with people more preoccupied by continued attacks on cities like Kharkiv and the Russian push in the Kharkiv region and elsewhere.
“The thing is, it’s not the first time Russia is doing this nuclear saber-rattling, and threatening Ukraine, and especially the West,” Goncharenko said. “Ukrainians believe, and those experts I’ve been talking to see it also this way, that those threats are directed actually not at Ukraine, but at the West, as a major supporter of Ukraine with weapons.”
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