Russia staged the WW3 drill (Image: EAST2WEST)
Russia has staged a full-scale nuclear drill with NATO facing an existential crisis following Donald Trump’s latest threat. Vladimir Putin ordered the WW3 exercise with his hulking Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles in Siberia.
The missile crews practised deployment to field launch sites, moving through territory with simulated radioactive contamination while using engineering equipment, camouflage and security, as shown in a video of the war game. A mock enemy sabotage group was seen being “killed” by gunfire.
Russia completes Yars nuclear missile drill (Image: East2West)
The RS-24 Yars missile typically carries three or four nuclear warheads, each with a yield estimated between 100 and 300 kilotons, making each warhead between seven and 20 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Some sources claim it can be configured to carry up to six smaller warheads, but this is not the standard deployment.
The Mach 25 missile is capable of hitting targets after reaching 19,000mph.
Yars missiles have a range of up to 7,500 miles, enabling strikes on the US as well as Europe.
They are currently the main element of the ground-based component of the Russian strategic nuclear force.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Image: Getty)
In the Siberian drills, the nuclear forces tested “combat readiness in field conditions using the mobile missile systems.
“The crews also practised camouflage drills, and withdrawal of units from attacks by a simulated enemy, countering air attacks and warning of threats.”
The Kremlin stages regular exercises of its strategic nuclear forces in order to test combat-readiness and send warning signals to the West, at a time of high tension with its NATO adversaries over the war in Ukraine.
This one came as said he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing from NATO, founded in 1949.
His threat came in response to European members of NATO – including Britain – refusing to take part in the initial attack on Iran.
Such a move could lead to vast nuclear superiority for Russia in Europe, and critically weaken defences of democracies in the continent.
Iran fired missiles at Israel and some Gulf nations, setting alight a refinery in Kuwait, while explosions could be heard around Tehran and the central Iranian city of Isfahan on Friday, as the United States prepared to further reinforce its already significant military forces in the Middle East.
As the war that began February 28 was to enter its sixth week, Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait warned about incoming missile fire, although it was unclear if anything was struck. Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan but it wasn’t immediately clear what was hit.
Iranian drones struck Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery Friday, sparking fires at the facility. The state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. issued a statement on the attack, the third so far since the war began, and said firefighters were working to control the blazes. There were no injuries reported, the company said.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf region energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing.