Russia has tested a new nuclear-capable and powered cruise missile to disrupt existing defenses, moving closer to deploying its military, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks published Sunday.
The announcement, which follows years of testing of the Burevestnik missile, is part of the nuclear message from the Kremlin, which has resisted Western pressure for a cease-fire in Ukraine and strongly warned the United States and other NATO allies against authorizing strikes deep inside Russia with longer-range Western weapons.
A video released by the Kremlin shows Putin, dressed in camouflage fatigues, receiving a report from General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of staff, who told the Russian leader that the Burevestnik had traveled 14,000 kilometers during a key test on Tuesday.
Gerasimov said the Burevestnik, or storm petrel in Russian, spent 15 hours in the air using nuclear power, but, he added, “that’s not the limit.”
Little is known about the Burevestnik, codenamed Skyfall by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and many Western experts are skeptical about it, pointing out that a nuclear engine could be highly unreliable.
When Putin first revealed that Russia was working on the weapon in his 2018 state of the nation address, he claimed it would have unlimited range, allowing it to circle the world without being detected by missile defense systems.
Many observers say such a missile could be difficult to handle and pose a threat to the environment. The United States and the Soviet Union worked on nuclear-powered missiles during the Cold War, but ultimately abandoned these projects as too dangerous.
The Burevestnik reportedly suffered an explosion in August 2019 during testing at a navy firing range in the White Sea, killing five nuclear engineers and two military personnel and leading to a brief spike in radioactivity that fueled fears in a nearby town.
Russian officials have never identified the weapon involved, but the United States has said it was the Burevestnik.
“We need to determine possible uses and start preparing the infrastructure necessary for the deployment of these weapons in our armed forces,” Putin told Gerasimov.
The Russian leader also said it was invulnerable to current and future missile defenses, due to its nearly unlimited range and unpredictable flight path.
Kirill Dmitriev, a senior Putin aide who was in the United States when the video surfaced, said his delegation had briefed American colleagues on the “successful tests” of the Burevestnik, which he said was an “absolutely new class of weapons.”
The European Union has imposed more economic sanctions on Russia, adding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new punitive measures against the Russian oil industry.
Earlier this week, Putin led exercises of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces that included missile training firings. The exercise came as his planned summit on Ukraine with US President Donald Trump was suspended.
The Kremlin said the maneuvers involved all elements of Moscow’s nuclear triad, including intercontinental ballistic missiles tested from launch facilities in northwest Russia and a submarine in the Barents Sea. The exercises also involved Tu-95 strategic bombers firing long-range cruise missiles.
The exercise tested the skills of military command structures, the Kremlin said in a statement on Wednesday.
The announcement came over the weekend as Russia targeted Ukraine with drones, killing at least seven people in their homes, authorities said following attacks overnight Saturday and Sunday.
In drone attacks on kyiv on Sunday, three people were killed and at least 29 injured, including seven children. This is the second consecutive nighttime attack against the Ukrainian capital causing civilian casualties.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said a 19-year-old woman and her 46-year-old mother were among the dead.
At least four people were killed the night before, and 20 were injured, officials said, prompting new calls from Ukraine’s president for Western air defense systems.
Two people were killed and 13 others injured in a ballistic missile attack on Saturday morning, kyiv police said.
