Russia Launches Massive Nuclear Drills Involving 64,000 Troops and 200 Missile Launchers

Russia began three days of nuclear weapons drills on May 19, involving 64,000 personnel and 7,800 pieces of military equipment, hours before the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, departed for a two-day visit to China, according to Reuters on May 19.

The exercise was announced by Russia's Defense Ministry, which indicated the drills would run through May 21 across multiple branches of the armed forces.

The exercises will rehearse "the preparation and use of nuclear forces in the event of aggression," the Russian ministry stated.

More than 200 missile launchers will take part, alongside aircraft, ships, submarines, and nuclear submarines, with test launches of ballistic and cruise missiles planned across the three-day window, Reuters added.

The exercise comes months after the New START agreement, the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Moscow and Washington, formally collapsed in February.

Its end released the world's two largest nuclear powers from a sweeping set of limits on warheads and launchers that had constrained their arsenals for years.

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Moscow has repeatedly showcased its nuclear arsenal and threatened to use it. Putin has in recent weeks made fresh remarks touting the readiness of Russia's atomic forces, the report noted.

Moscow's nuclear signaling has also steadily extended beyond Russia's own borders. The nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile has been stationed in Belarus, Moscow's closest military ally, whose territory borders NATO members Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.

The Oreshnik is a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile first used in combat against Ukraine in November 2024, when it struck the city of Dnipro.

Putin has publicly described it as a hypersonic system carrying multiple independently targetable warheads, and Moscow has positioned it as a centerpiece of its arsenal following the collapse of New START.

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