Russia warns nuclear weapons drills, threatens British military targets

Russia has threatened to hit British military objects and said it would develop exercises that simulate the use of nuclear weapons in the field of battle amid sharp-growing tensions over senior Western officials' comments of possible deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine.

After summoning British Ambassador to the Foreign Ministry, Moscow warned that Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with weapons supplied by Great Britain could bring revenge attacks on British military facilities and equipment on Ukrainian soil or beyond.

The remarks came on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inauguration for a fifth term in office, and a week when Moscow will celebrate Victory Day, its most important secular holiday, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

The exercises are a response to the “-declarations and threats by some Western officials regarding the Russian Federation”, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.