The Kremlin's Southern Military District troops "are practicing combat training tasks of obtaining special ammunition for the Iskander operational-tactical missile system, equipping launch vehicles with them and covertly advancing to the designated position area in preparation for missile launches," Russia's defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made veiled nuclear threats toward the West for years, since he began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, leaving tens of thousands of people dead, and towns and cities in ruins.

Western allies have supported Ukraine with military equipment to help Kyiv fend off Putin's aggression.

Military personnel "involved in the exercise practise equipping aviation weapons with special warheads, including the Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missiles, and flying into designated patrol areas," the Kremlin added.

Earlier this month, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused French President Emmanuel Macron and "British representatives" of provoking Russia's nuclear escalation, after U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said during a trip to Kyiv that Ukraine could strike Russia with British weapons, while Macron has floated the possibility of sending Western troops to fight in Ukraine.

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