Afrasianet - Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally supervised exercises by Russia's land, sea and air strategic nuclear forces to test their readiness,  the Kremlin    said, as Moscow intensifies  its attacks on Ukraine and declares control of new areas.

He also reported that the exercise included the launch  of intercontinental ballistic missiles and the launch of a Sineva ballistic missile from a nuclear cruiser in the Barents Sea. Strategic aircraft that fired aerial  cruise missiles participated in the exercise.

The Kremlin confirmed that all the training missions were successfully completed, and that the aim of the exercise was also to test the readiness of military command and control systems.

NATO began its annual nuclear drills earlier this month, with the participation of about 60 aircraft from 13 countries, including F-35A fighter jets and B-52 bombers, as part of the Steadfast Non exercise hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.

Russian attacks

On the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that its forces had taken control of the village of Pavlivka in the Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine, as well as the village of Ivanivka in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.

The ministry added in a statement on Telegram that Russian forces had shelled Ukraine's energy infrastructure while saying it was in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilian targets.

The Russian Defense Ministry noted that a workshop for the manufacture of military equipment, oil refining facilities and transportation infrastructure belonging to Ukrainian forces was targeted.

Moscow also announced that it had shot down 224 Ukrainian drones in a single day.

Ukrainian authorities earlier announced that 6 people were killed in Russian strikes overnight.

For their part, the authorities of the Republic of Dagestan announced  that an industrial facility was attacked by Ukrainian drones, and called on its citizens to avoid being in open places and on the streets. 

Authorities in the Leningrad region also declared   an air alert in the province as a result of attacks by Ukrainian drones.

Leningrad authorities added that the danger situation was lifted after they were able to shoot down three Ukrainian drones.