Ukraine responded by denouncing the exercises.
“We do not see here anything new … Nuclear blackmail is a constant practice of Putin’s regime,” Ukraine’s military spy agency spokesperson Andriy Yusov told national TV.
Last week, 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.
“We have recently witnessed an unprecedented new round of tensions initiated by the French president and the British Foreign Office. It was very dangerous rhetoric,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin’s nuclear saber-rattling has now kicked up a notch.
“In order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions, the General Staff has begun preparations for conducting exercises with missile formations of the Southern Military District in the near future with the involvement of aviation, as well as the forces of the Navy,” the Russian ministry of defense said in a statement on Telegram.