MOSCOW — Russia conducted a round of strategic nuclear exercises on Wednesday, a week after NATO launched similar drills across the North Sea, in a tense display of deterrence as the war in Ukraine grinds into another difficult winter.
“Today we are conducting planned; I would like to emphasize, planned nuclear forces training,” President Vladimir Putin told his top generals in a televised meeting from the Kremlin, underscoring that the maneuvers were part of Russia’s annual schedule rather than a reaction to NATO’s activities.
The exercises included a mock launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine in the Barents Sea, not far from NATO’s northern frontier, alongside another simulated launch from a northern Russian cosmodrome. Strategic bombers also took part, carrying out air-launched missile strikes across vast stretches of Russian airspace, according to the Defense Ministry.
The ministry released sweeping video footage showing missiles cutting through dark skies and submarines surfacing through Arctic waters, a cinematic reminder of Moscow’s nuclear might.
The display comes as diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict continue to falter. On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump shelved a proposed round of peace talks with Putin, a decision that further dims hopes of a near-term settlement.
Meanwhile, recent airspace incursions over Poland and Estonia, coupled with a rash of unexplained drone sightings, have unsettled NATO allies already wary of Russian unpredictability.
In Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again pressed for U.S. Tomahawk long-range missiles, but left empty-handed after weeks of lobbying. Moscow has repeatedly warned that the supply of such nuclear-capable weapons to Kyiv would mark a “serious escalation,” hinting at dire consequences should those requests ever be granted.
The twin drills by NATO and Russia, carried out within days of each other, highlight a world once again poised on the knife’s edge of deterrence and distrust.
