Ukraine’s top military official: ‘Russia exercised massive missile-nuclear strike during Zapad-2017’
On September 20, 2017, the Russian Federation completed the active phase of the strategic command and staff exercise (SCSE) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation “Zapad-2017”.
At the last stage, a hypothetical massive missile-nuclear strike involving the forces and means of all three components of the nuclear triad was exercised, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov stated on Thursday.
According to him, during the last day of the war game, six Tu-95MS and Tu-22MZ distant aircrafts, carrying out flights in the airspace of the Barents, Baltic and Norwegian seas, were involved in the missile-nuclear strike.
“Strategic missile troops were represented by the combat crew of the 14th missile division, which carried out a training-combat launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile RS-24 “Yars” from the Plesetsk cosmodrome (Arkhangelsk region) hitting targets at the “Kura” proving ground (the Kamchatka Peninsula). The strategic missile submarine cruiser “Dmitry Donskoy” of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation conducted an electronic launch of the sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile”, he said.
In his opinion, such massive missile and air strike of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation once again proves the aggressiveness and offensive nature of Russia’s foreign and security policy, its readiness to escalate tensions with the West up to a full-scale war, and demonstrates Russia’s aspiration to dominate in Europe.
A few days earlier, Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz suggested that Russia might be rehearsing the use of nuclear weapons..
