Moscow carried out a successful test of its new “invincible” nuclear-capable cruise missile, with the Kremlin now working to deploy the doomsday weapon, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.
Putin hailed the test in a video released by the Kremlin while dressed in military fatigues, with the strongman calling on his top general to start preparing the Burevestnik missile for potential use.
“We need to determine the possible uses and begin preparing the infrastructure for deploying these weapons to our armed forces,” Putin instructed.
Little is known about the Burevestnik missile, which NATO code-named Skyfall.
Putin previously touted the weapons as his “invincible” missile, capable of bypassing all current and future missile defense systems. He also claimed that the nuclear-armed has a nearly unlimited range and an unpredictable flight path, making it impossible to intercept.
Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces, claimed the latest test showed the missile was capable of flying for 15 hours and covered a distance of about 8,700 miles, easily capable of reaching New York City or Washington D.C.
The Trump administration has been made aware of the “successful” missile test, said Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy who was in the US when the video was released.
The test comes after Putin directed a set of nuclear drills earlier this week that featured practice launches of the Kremlin’s nuclear-capable missile fleet, the largest in the world.
The Kremlin claimed the drills included all parts of Moscow’s nuclear triad, including intercontinental ballistic missiles and its Tu-95 strategic bombers.
Putin has previously said that the Kremlin is free to use doomsday weapons against any nation propped up by a nuclear power, a clear threat against NATO and the US over their support of Ukraine.
Despite Moscow’s boasts, experts have said it remains unclear if the Skyfall missile boasts all of the advances that Putin claims.
The Burevestnik has had a poor test record in recent years, with two partial successes documented among the 13 known tests, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative advocacy group.
The missile also reportedly killed five nuclear engineers and two service members following an explosion in 2019 during tests at a navy White Sea base.
With Post wires
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
