MOSCOW: Russia’s army on Tuesday began three days of nuclear weapons drills involving thousands of troops across the country, as Kyiv escalates its drone attacks and with President Vladimir Putin headed to China. Throughout its more than four-year offensive in Ukraine Moscow has flaunted its possession of nuclear weapons and repeatedly threatened to use them. The drills also come months after the last nuclear arms pact between Russia and Washington broke down and amid a fresh spate of comments from Putin touting the prowess of Moscow’s atomic forces.

Russia deployed Oreshnik, its latest hypersonic, nuclear-capable missile, to Belarus last year

Russia and Belarus launched joint military exercises on Monday to practice the combat deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, marking the first such drills since Moscow deployed…