Shock footage shows death convoy of Putin’s elite nuclear warriors ON THE MOVE ‘in chilling signal to West’

CHILLING footage of a convoy transporting equipment for Russia's nuclear forces could be a "signal to the West", a military intelligence specialist claims.

The video, shot at an undisclosed location in central Russia, shows a train loaded with vehicles and equipment apparently heading towards the front line in Ukraine.

Defence analyst Konrad Muzyka said the train is linked to a unit that operates a dozen central storage facilities for nuclear weapons.

He said: "This is actually carrying kit belonging to the 12th Main Directorate of the Russian MoD.

"The directorate is responsible for nuclear munitions, their storage, maintenance, transport, and issuance to units."

The expert stressed that the video in no way shows "preparations for a nuclear release".

However he said it was significant that it emerged after Ukraine warned of the "very high" risk of Russia using a tactical nuclear weapon.

"It could be a form of signalling to the West that Moscow is escalating," Muzyka said, in reference to Vladimir Putin's nuclear war warning on Friday.

Muzyka also suggested Russia could be moving this equipment ahead of training exercises for its Strategic Rocket Forces - the country's main nuclear deterrence unit.

"Russian RVSN forces usually train extensively during autumn," Muzuka explained.

"Russia may conduct Grom strategic deterrence exercise in October, so this train could be showing a prep for this drill."

Grom, meaning thunder, is the annual large-scale manoeuvres of Russia's strategic nuclear forces.

Russian forces' retreat from the key city of Lyman on Saturday, which had been used as a a logistics and transport hub for the Kremlin's operations in the north of the Donetsk region, has been an embarrassment for Moscow.

Russia admitted its troops had abandoned their bastion of Lyman to avoid being encircled by Ukraine's army.

But after the major new defeat, Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia's Chechen region, said Moscow should now consider using a low-yield nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

In a chilling message, he wrote: "In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons."

Russia has the world's largest atomic arsenal - including low-yield tactical nuclear weapons designed to be deployed on the battlefield against opposing armies.

Other top Putin allies, including former president Dmitry Medvedev, have suggested Russia may need to resort to nuclear weapons - but Kadyrov's call was the most urgent and explicit.

On Sunday, meanwhile, Putin’s propaganda TV channel screened a terrifying segment “in anticipation of nuclear conflict”.

The ominous sequence, which was aired by pro-Kremlin broadcaster NTV, showed nuclear explosions and the "Armageddon" aftermath of the blasts.

The latest chilling segment was entitled "In anticipation of nuclear conflict - how weapons of mass destruction have become part of the geopolitical game".

NTV is owned by the media wing of energy giant Gazprom, who last month released a video of Europe "freezing to death" without Russian gas in a bid to taunt the West.