The annual nuclear drills, dubbed Grom (Thunder), took place at the Kura firing range on Russia’s far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, with Vladimir Putin overseeing them remotely, the Reuters news agency reported.
Russia’s nuclear submarines, TU-95MS strategic bombers and Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles were all put through their paces as part of the manoeuvres, US broadcaster CBS News reported.
Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a report to the Kremlin leader that the drills had practiced "delivering a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to an enemy nuclear strike," as cited by Reuters.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin’s press service said that all the objectives of the exercises had been achieved and “all the missiles have reached their targets, confirming their set characteristics,” Russian independent outlet Meduza reported.
Meanwhile, Putin himself said in a statement, as cited by Polish state news agency PAP, that "a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was test-fired from the state Plesetsk cosmodrome in the direction of the Kura firing range on Kamchatka."
The statement added: "A Sineva ICBM was launched from the Barents Sea. The TU-95MS aircraft were also used in the exercise, launching air-to-surface cruise missiles."
The Pentagon said on Tuesday it had been notified by Russia about the planned manoeuvres, the PAP news agency reported.
Wednesday was day 245 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, cbsnews.com, meduza.io