Russia unleashes hypersonic & nuclear missiles as world on brink with 200,000 troops looming for Ukraine invasion
VLADIMIR Putin has flexed his military muscles today as Russia's army engaged in war games involving nuclear missiles close to the Ukrainian border.
It comes as Western leaders gathered for crisis talks in the German city of Munich over fears the Russian president could order a military invasion of Ukraine at any time.
Putin oversaw strategic nuclear exercises involving the launch of hypersonic ballistic missiles and other weapons in the latest show of strength as tensions between Moscow and Kyiv remain on a knife-edge.
The Russian leader watched the drills from a "situation centre" in the Kremlin alongside his close ally, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Two ballistic missiles were launched - one from a site in northwest Russia and the second from a submarine in the Barents Sea - and hit targets thousands of miles away, according to the Kremlin.
The drills involved launches from warships, submarines, and warplanes as well as from land.
Footage showing a split screen of various top Russian military chiefs as well as Putin ordering the drills was shared by the country's RIA Novosti news agency.
In the footage, top Russian general Valery Gerasimov tells Putin: "The main purpose of the exercise is to train the strategic offensive forces' actions aimed at delivering a guaranteed defeat of the enemy."
The Kremlin said ships and submarines from the Northern and Black Sea Fleets launched Kalibr cruise missiles and Zircon hypersonic missiles at sea and land targets.
Russian forces also carried out a launch of the Iskander land-based cruise missile from the Kapustin Yar test site in Astrakhan, southern Russia.
Further video from Russia's Defence Ministry captures the moment an aircraft launches a Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missile and strikes a land target.
An RS-24 Yars thermonuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missile was also shown off in a video.
"All the missiles hit their targets, confirming their performance objectives," the Kremlin said, adding the drills included Tu-95 bombers and submarines.
The Kremlin has denied the war games mark a military escalation and insisted they are part of a regular training process.
This follows four months of military manoeuvres by Russia's armed forces, including a build-up of up to 200,000 troops along Ukraine's border.
Russia denies it is planning to attack Ukraine.
"In the context of the current situation on our western borders, this will certainly be perceived as a signal," Dmitry Stefanovich, from Moscow-based think tank IMEMO RAS said.
"The signal to the West is not so much 'don't interfere', but instead designed to say that the problem is not Ukraine and actually much wider."
Russia is one of the world's leading nuclear powers.
US President Joe Biden has warned military chiefs believe Russia intends to attack Ukraine in days.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military has reported that Russian separatists have violated ceasefires.
The main purpose of the exercise is to train the strategic offensive forces' actions aimed at delivering a guaranteed defeat of the enemy
Valery Gerasimov
Separatists have called for military mobilisation in the east of Ukraine.
US Vice President Kamala Harris has met Ukraine's leader Voldymyr Zelensky in Munich today.
Biden has again ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's meeting with his Russian counterpart next Thursday.
Blinken accused the Kremlin of mounting a propaganda campaign in order to "justify" a war.
Boris Johnson has today warned that an invasion of Ukraine is "increasingly likely", the shock of which "will echo around the world".
He added that an attack by Putin would bring about the "destruction of a democratic state" and a "catastrophic" move.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he also threatened Russia with further sanctions if Putin invades, and pledged to take down Russian money in London.
He predicted a "protracted, violent, bloody insurgency" resulting in Russian deaths if they start a war.
Boris Johnson also accused pro-Russian forces of staging a false-flag operation by bombing a Ukrainian nursery in a bid to trigger an invasion.
All eyes are on the small area under the control of two pro-Russian rebel groups, the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR).
Both ordered mass evacuations yesterday as they accused Ukraine of planning an attack, and even alleged Kyiv was going to blow up a chemical plant.
At least one car bomb was detonated in the eastern city of Donetsk overnight.
Reporters close to the front where Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists face off in the Luhansk region heard explosions and saw damaged civilian buildings on the Kyiv side of the line.
As fear spreads, officials report 25,000 people have left Luhansk, while more than 6,000 have left Donetsk for Russia.
Video shared online shows huge queues of cars at checkpoints in Donetsk.
For the rebels' part, they have accused Kyiv of planning an offensive to retake the eastern territories which broke away following the 2014 uprising.
They said civilians were evacuating the region in response to fears of a government attack.
Russian news agencies quoted officials in Luhansk saying there had been two explosions on a gas pipeline within an hour.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
And yesterday, Britain's top spy warned Russia and China are waging a covert war in the UK.
Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5, claimed that the UK's Official Secrets Act was outdated, meaning Britain is "operating with one hand behind our backs on state threats".