Russia’s military loaded one of its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can be armed with nuclear warheads into a launch site at a missile base in Western Russia, according to Moscow’s defense ministry.
Russian forces spent “several hours” loading a Yars ICBM into a silo at the Kozelsk missile base in the Kaluga region southwest of the capital, Moscow said in a statement on Thursday.
Kremlin authorities have previously said the Russian strategic missile forces have loaded Yars ICBMs into silos at the facility, including in December 2023 and in late 2022.
The Kremlin has the world’s largest nuclear weapons arsenal, just ahead of the U.S. Combined, Moscow and Washington hold the vast majority of the world’s stocks of nuclear weapons.
Experts estimate that there are just over 12,000 nuclear warheads across the world, with roughly three quarters of these warheads able to be used.
Nuclear weapons are typically divided into strategic nuclear weapons, designed to strike a homeland, and nonstrategic nuclear weapons. The terms tactical or theater are often used to describe nonstrategic nuclear weapons.
Sergey Guneev / Sputnik via AP
ICBMs are strategic nuclear weapons, which are more destructive and intended to take out larger areas. The U.S. has its Minuteman III ground-launched ICBMs, forming part of the nuclear triad making up Washington’s strategic nuclear deterrent.
The Russian forces based out of the Kozelsk facility were the first to receive the Yars ICBM, according to Russian state news agency Tass. In 2018, the U.S.-based Federation of American Scientists think tank said satellite imagery indicated “substantial upgrades” to the silos for ICBMs at the Kozelsk site.
The RS-24 Yars, also referred to as the SS-27 Mod 2, is a solid-fuel ICBM that was crafted to carry a number of re-entry vehicles that can be sent to different targets. This design means the missile can carry several nuclear warheads towards different targets.
Each Yars ICBM can carry up to four multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads, each with a yield of around 500 kilotons, according to the Federation of American Scientists. The Yars is thought to have a range of around 11,000 to 12,000 kilometers.
State media described the Yars as a variation of Russia’s Topol-M missile, which can also be launched from silos or from mobile launchers. They have been deployed for a decade and a half, according to Tass.
Moscow shared footage it said showed the launch of Yars ICBMs, as well as another type of ballistic missile, during training for Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces in October.
The Kremlin has conducted several rounds of nuclear drills this year as the war in Ukraine grinds on, including with Yars missiles.