UPDATE 2-Russia says troops deliver nuclear warheads in major exercise

​Russia on Wednesday showed what it said was footage of troops delivering nuclear warheads to mobile Iskander-M missile launch systems, loading them and moving them to launch sites as part of a major nuclear exercise. In ‌a statement released to state media, the Defence Ministry said its forces had practised bringing units to "the highest levels of combat readiness for the use of nuclear weapons".

​Russia on Wednesday showed what it said was footage of troops delivering nuclear warheads to mobile Iskander-M missile launch systems, loading them and moving them to launch sites as part of a major nuclear exercise.

In ‌a statement released to state media, the Defence Ministry said its forces had practised bringing units to "the highest levels of combat readiness for the use of nuclear weapons". The three-day exercise, which started on Tuesday and is taking place across Russia and Belarus, comes at a time when Moscow is locked ‌in what it says is an existential struggle with the West over Ukraine.

A senior Russian diplomat warned on Tuesday that the ‌risks of a direct clash between Russia and NATO were increasing due to what he said was a growing narrative in European capitals about the "looming threat of a high-intensity war" with Russia. The diplomat, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, said the consequences of such a clash could be catastrophic.

The Defence Ministry said the nuclear drills, which involve 64,000 military personnel, ⁠more than ​200 missile launchers, 140 aircraft, 73 ⁠surface ships and 13 submarines, would include rehearsing launch procedures for Russian tactical nuclear weapons based in Belarus. Video of the training element showed Russian nuclear forces moving in convoy through ⁠a heavily forested area, camouflaging their vehicles, and raising a launch tube into firing position. The Defence Ministry did not say where the drills took place.

The Iskander-M, ​a mobile guided missile system code-named "SS-26 Stone" by NATO, replaced the Soviet "Scud". Its guided missiles have a range of up to ⁠500 km (300 miles) and can carry conventional or nuclear warheads. Russia has used the Iskander-M against Ukrainian forces, according to state media. It has also deployed them in its European exclave ⁠of ​Kaliningrad in the past, and it has placed them in neighbouring Belarus, putting Ukraine and several NATO members within their range.

Throughout the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has issued reminders of Russia's nuclear might as a warning to the West not to go too far in ⁠its support of Kyiv. The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said the latest drills looked aimed at amplifying longstanding narratives aimed at ⁠influencing NATO decision-making to Ukraine's detriment and ⁠masking what the ISW said were Russia’s own difficulties in prosecuting its war in Ukraine.

Russia says its forces are still advancing in Ukraine and that its aim of taking control of the remainder of the ‌eastern Donbas region remains ‌unchanged.