- President Trump downplayed Russia’s reported test of the nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile, pointing to U.S. submarine capabilities near Russian waters.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said the missile flew 14,000 kilometers over 15 hours and demonstrated the “reliability of Russia’s nuclear shield.”
President Donald Trump has downplayed recent claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding a test of the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, pointing instead to the proximity and capabilities of American nuclear submarines.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One during his trip to Asia, Trump dismissed the relevance of the missile’s long-range performance.
“They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shore,” Trump said. “So I mean, it doesn’t have to go 8,000 miles, and they’re not playing games with us, we’re not playing games with them either. We test missiles all the time.”
His comments followed a public announcement by Putin on Sunday that Russia had successfully tested the Burevestnik missile, also known by NATO as the SSC-X-9 Skyfall. According to Russian military leadership, the test occurred on October 21 and lasted approximately 15 hours, during which the missile covered a distance of 14,000 kilometers, or about 8,700 miles.
“The technical characteristics of the missile allow it to strike highly protected targets anywhere in the world with guaranteed accuracy,” Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said in a briefing with Putin.
Putin described the test as proof of the “reliability of Russia’s nuclear shield” and said the Burevestnik represented “a unique weapon system that no other country possesses.” He added that Russia would now work to determine deployment options and begin preparing infrastructure for the weapon’s integration into the armed forces.
Trump criticized the Russian president’s remarks, calling the announcement unnecessary amid an ongoing war. “I don’t think it’s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying either, by the way,” Trump said. “He ought to get the war ended, a war that should have taken one week is now in its fourth year, that’s what he ought to do instead of testing missiles.”
Burevestnik is one of several advanced weapon systems that Russia has promoted since 2018, when Putin first introduced the missile alongside others such as the Sarmat ICBM, Kinzhal hypersonic missile, and the Poseidon undersea nuclear drone.
In previous attempts to test the Burevestnik system, Russia faced technical challenges and safety concerns. One 2019 incident at the Nenoksa test site in the Arkhangelsk region led to an explosion that killed five people and raised questions about radiation exposure and containment.
While Russian officials now claim the missile is ready for deployment planning, U.S. officials have not confirmed any parallel developments. However, Trump emphasized that the U.S. remains prepared and maintains strong nuclear capabilities without needing to publicly promote new systems.
“We test missiles all the time,” he reiterated.