Russia readies a SECOND monster Yars nuke for combat.

Russia has issued a fresh nuclear threat to the UK after loading a second huge missile into a silo near Moscow.

Footage released by state media shows the Yars rocket, which can be tipped with a nuclear warhead and range all of Europe and the mainland US, being loaded into the ground at the Kozelsky base, 160 miles south of Moscow.

It comes just a day after more footage showed another missile arriving at the same base and as a retired Russian general said Russia should prioritise striking London over Washington DC. 

'You don't have to [strike] Washington first – it's too far away,' Lt. Gen. Andrey Gurulev told state TV. 'London is next door…. London is the main hotbed of all nastiness.'

Vladimir Putin has been ramping up his nuclear sabre-rattling since declaring war on Ukraine back in February, with the West his main target.

Such threats have been dialled back in recent weeks after Beijing told him to stop, but they are slowly building again ahead of Russia's annual Strategic Missile Forces Day on Saturday.

The last time Russia showed off its Yars missiles was back in October when Putin oversaw the annual Grom nuclear drills.

Submarines, nuclear-capable bombers and Russia's nuclear missile forces all took part in those exercises – watched over by Putin in his nuclear command centre.

Colonel Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of Russia’s National Defence magazine, said afterwards that the drills were a rehearsal for destroying the UK and US.

Speaking after the latest Yars missile footage was released, General Gurulev said the West was hell-bent on seeing Ukraine attack Russia.

'So why are we embarrassed to say that we should strike London?' he asked.

'I am not saying that we should demolish everyone. We should destroy critical facilities – control centres, military bases, and airfields.

'I am sure we should have a catalogue in the General Staff and it is being updated all the time… Is it nuclear…[or not]?

'If it is not nuclear, you have to calculate how many missile carriers, ships, aircraft, satellite constellation(s)… and long range [drones] are needed.

'And a strike on London, strange as it may sound, would be the first and last warning to the [real decision-makers – Washington].'

The Kozelsk missile compound in Kaluga region is undergoing modernisation and a revamp, according to reports.

Col. Alexei Sokolov, speaking after the first Yars missile was moved on Tuesday, said the 'complicated technological operations' took a few hours.

The Yars is a modification of the Topol-M missile system, and was first deployed in 2009. In the October drill, Russia allegedly practiced its response to a Western nuclear attack. 

It is, however, not Russia's most-modern nuclear missile – that is the Sarmat 2, which Putin oversaw a test-launch of back in April.

Moscow claims that rocket can carry up to 15 nuclear warheads mounted on its new Avangard hypersonic re-entry vehicles, which carry them to their targets.