MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a massive exercise of the country’s nuclear forces Tuesday, including missile launches in a simulated retaliatory strike, as he continued to bring into play the country’s nuclear power in a context of growing tensions with the West over Ukraine.

Speaking in a video call with military leaders, Putin said the exercises would simulate the action of senior officials using nuclear weapons and include launches of nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles.

Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said the exercise aimed to train “strategic offensive forces launching a massive nuclear strike in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy.”

Putin, who has repeatedly said brandished the nuclear sword as he seeks to dissuade the West from increasing its support for Ukraine, stressed Tuesday that Russia’s nuclear arsenal remains a “reliable guarantor of the country’s sovereignty and security.”

“Given growing geopolitical tensions and new emerging threats and risks, it is important for us to have modern strategic forces, always ready for combat,” he said, reaffirming that Russia considers the use of weapons nuclear weapons as “the ultimate and extreme measure to guarantee its security.

Putin noted that Moscow would continue to modernize its nuclear forces, deploying new missiles with greater precision, faster launch times and increased capabilities to defeat missile defenses.

As part of Tuesday’s exercises, the army conducted a test firing of a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk launch pad at the Kura test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, indicated the Ministry of Defense. Novomoskovsk and Knyaz Oleg nuclear submarines tested ICBMs from the Barents Sea and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, while nuclear-capable Tu-95 strategic bombers conducted long-range cruise missile training firings .

The ministry said all missiles hit their designated targets.

Last month, the Russian leader warned the United States and its NATO allies that allowing Ukraine to use long-range weapons supplied by the West for military purposes hits deep inside Russia would put NATO at war against its country.

He reinforced the message by announcing a new version of the nuclear doctrine which considers a conventional attack against Russia by a non-nuclear nation supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack against its country — a clear warning to the United States and other allies of Kyiv.

Putin also said the revised document envisaged the possible use of nuclear weapons in the event of a massive air attack, leaving the door open for a potential nuclear response to any air attack – an ambiguity intended to deter the West.

Tuesday’s maneuvers follow a series of other exercises by Russian nuclear forces.

Earlier this year, the Russian military held a joint nuclear exercise with Moscow’s ally Belarus, which hosted some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.