The Russian military on Tuesday conducted large-scale drills in the Opuk training range in occupied Crimea.
More than 40 Russian vessels and 30-plus military planes and 20 helicopters took part in exercises in Crimea, with missile launches, practice bombings and landings by amphibious forces.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet's press service said that "during a large-scale exercise with forces from the Southern Military District, the troops worked out anti-sabotage defense of a section of the Crimean coast, as well as the fight against naval assault groups and shipborne assault forces."
In total, about 8,000 servicemen were involved in the command and staff exercises with the formations of the Southern Military District, about 350 units of weapons and military equipment from the combined arms armies, air force and air defense formations, units of the combat arms and special forces of district subordination, forces.
In addition, aviation exercises with practical missile launches and bombing were held in Crimea, over 30 aircraft were involved.
Also, thousands of miles away, a Russian and Chinese fleet sailed through the narrow Tsugaru Strait between mainland Japan and its northern island Hokkaido, putting Tokyo on high alert.
The media said that Moscow "showed off its military strength to the world" as massive invasion war games were staged in the Black Sea near Ukraine and dozens more Kremlin warships joined Chinese gunboats off Japan.
Washington on Monday said it was 'watching closely' after it was reported that China launched a new hypersonic missile in August, which experts warned indicated that Beijing's arsenal was more advanced than previously thought.
This week China had tested a new hypersonic nuclear-capable missile with a fearsome technology capable of striking virtually anywhere on the planet.
