Russian Army reportedly conducted a mock nuclear attack against NATO troops in Poland during a large-scale ZAPAD-2021 (West 21) military exercise.
An unnamed Russian source says that the main purpose of the Zapad 21 exercise is to simulate counter-attacks in case of large-scale war with the US and its Nato allies. During the military exercise, the Russian military conducted dummy bombing runs involving long-range precision live-fires.
As part of the exercise, a pair of Tu-22M3 bombers simulated an attack on the American military command structure in Poland and a nuclear-capable artillery unit conducted realistic live-fire exercises.
Russian Army conducted a live-fire training exercise with the improved variant of Soviet 203mm heavy artillery system, called the 2S7M Malka. The gun has a range of 47000 m, but this can be extended to 55,500 m by using Rocket Assisted Projectiles. Its primary mission is to fire nuclear artillery shells.
Russian media on Sep. 15, reported that the drills involved up to 200,000 troops, 80 planes and helicopters, 760 combat vehicles, including 290 tanks, 240 artillery systems and multiple rocket launchers and 15 warships.
“The exercise Zapad-2021 showed that we have the ability to create major combined groups, plan combat operations in any directions, stop any aggression and carry out a resolute strike to produce a sobering effect on any enemy,” Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Yunus-Bek Yevkurov said at the closing ceremony.
He stressed that in the course of the exercise the combined group demonstrated the skills acquired over a year of routine training and tight interaction in coping with tasks on the battlefield.