Putin Announces Successful Test of New Nuclear-Capable Missile

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Sunday that Russia has successfully completed the final test of a new nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik. The declaration, praising a "unique" nuclear-capable weapon with a formidable range of up to 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles), serves as the latest act in a high-stakes diplomatic and military confrontation with the United States and its NATO allies, unfolding just days after Washington imposed sweeping new sanctions on Russia's energy giants and a planned peace summit over the war in Ukraine collapsed.

The announcement came in a video released by the Kremlin showing Putin addressing military officials.

"The decisive tests are now complete," he stated, before ordering the preparation of "infrastructure to put this weapon into service in the Russian armed forces."

This deliberate nuclear signaling from Moscow arrives at a perilous moment, with the nearly four-year-long war in Ukraine evolving into a grinding war of attrition, diplomatic channels all but frozen, and both Russia and the West engaging in an intensifying campaign of economic pressure and military deterrence along NATO's eastern flank.

The failure of the latest peace initiative has been a significant catalyst for the recent escalation. Just last week, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly shelved plans for a highly anticipated summit with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, telling reporters in the Oval Office he did not want to "have a wasted meeting."

The cancellation followed tense White House discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and came after a direct phone call between the two leaders revealed the vast chasm that remains between their positions.

According to a report in The Washington Post, citing senior officials, Putin demanded that Ukraine surrender full control of the entire eastern Donetsk region—territory Moscow has failed to conquer in years of brutal fighting—as a core condition for ending the war. In exchange, Putin reportedly offered to cede parts of the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, a proposal a senior European diplomat dismissed scathingly: "It’s like selling them their own leg in exchange for nothing." President Trump, who had hoped to broker a swift deal, publicly called for a ceasefire along existing front lines, a proposal the Kremlin rejected.

In the wake of this diplomatic collapse, the Trump administration pivoted from negotiation to coercion.

On Wednesday, President Trump announced sweeping sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, a move designed to strike at the heart of the Kremlin's war machine. The sanctions, which freeze all U.S. assets of the firms and prohibit American companies from doing business with them, represent Washington’s most severe action against Moscow’s energy sector to date.

"Every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere," Trump told reporters, expressing hope the "tremendous sanctions" would pressure Putin to settle the war. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the measures as "one of the largest ever" imposed on Russia, citing Putin’s refusal to negotiate "in an honest and forthright manner." The European Union moved in parallel, introducing its 19th sanctions package targeting Moscow’s oil and gas revenues and advancing a planned ban on Russian liquefied natural gas imports to early 2027.

As the economic and diplomatic conflict intensifies, the nature of the war itself is transforming.

With the front lines largely deadlocked, both Moscow and Kyiv are waging a fierce parallel war on each other’s energy assets. Ukraine, with newly granted latitude from Washington, has ramped up its campaign of what it calls "long-range sanctions." This week, the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced a "successful hit" on a Russian plant in Bryansk that produced explosives and rocket fuel, using a British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missile.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the strike was made possible after the Trump administration quietly lifted a key restriction on Ukraine's use of some long-range European missiles against targets inside Russia. While the Storm Shadow, with a range of over 180 miles, is not a battlefield game-changer, its use signals a new phase of increased cross-border attacks aimed at crippling Russia's military-industrial complex and the oil refineries that fund it.

As noted by The New York Times, these Ukrainian drone and missile strikes have already damaged about 20 percent of Russia's refining capacity, causing gasoline shortages in several regions.

Russia has responded with a devastating campaign of its own, systematically targeting Ukraine’s electricity and gas infrastructure as winter approaches. Recent missile and drone barrages have killed civilians and struck sites including a kindergarten in Kharkiv, with the apparent objective of plunging the population into cold and darkness, crippling the economy, and sapping the will to continue the fight.

The attacks have already forced Ukraine to implement rolling emergency blackouts and have knocked out roughly 60 percent of its gas production capacity, raising fears that many households may face the coming winter without sufficient heat. Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, warned on Thursday that the country faces "the most difficult heating season of all the years of the full-scale war."

This escalating energy war is unfolding alongside a dramatic increase in direct Russian provocations against NATO.

On Sept., 20, 2025, in what the Estonian government condemned as an "unprecedentedly brazen" and "dangerous provocation," three Russian fighter jets violated the airspace of the NATO member state for a full twelve minutes. The extended incursion, which coincided with a massive Russian missile and drone assault across Ukraine, drew swift condemnation from European leaders.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, labeled it a "dangerous provocation," while Germany's Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul, expressed "full solidarity" with Estonia. The incident followed similar recent violations of Polish and Romanian airspace and occurred during Russia's "Zapad 2025" joint military exercises with Belarus, which Poland has branded as explicitly "offensive."

It is within this volatile context of a stalled war, an escalating energy conflict, and direct provocations against NATO that Putin’s nuclear signaling must be understood.

The Burevestnik missile test is not an isolated event but part of a broader pattern of nuclear intimidation. Moscow has already deployed tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus and has repeatedly warned that continued Western support for Ukraine risks "catastrophic consequences."

The announcement also appears to be a direct response to a growing debate in Washington over providing Ukraine with even more powerful long-range weapons. For months, Zelenskyy has lobbied for American-made Tomahawk cruise missiles, which could extend Kyiv’s reach deep inside Russia.

President Trump recently warned Putin he might approve the transfer if a peace deal is not reached, a threat the Kremlin called a matter of "extreme concern." Putin's showcasing of the Burevestnik, a strategic weapon with intercontinental range, is a clear message intended to deter such an escalation.

The West, however, is signaling its own resolve. This month, NATO launched its annual nuclear deterrence exercise, "Steadfast Noon," hosted by the Netherlands. The long-planned drills, which involve around 70 aircraft from 14 allied nations, are designed to test the alliance's readiness and ensure its nuclear deterrent remains "credible, safe, secure, and effective," according to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

While NATO insists the exercise is routine and not linked to current events, its timing serves as a transparent message that the alliance will not be intimidated by Moscow's nuclear brinkmanship.

As Russia’s refusal to entertain a ceasefire and the collapse of the Budapest summit raise the grim prospect of the war raging for years to come, both sides are digging in for a long struggle. Kyiv’s theory of victory now increasingly rests on its ability to inflict crippling economic pain through long-range strikes on Russia’s infrastructure.

As retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army Europe, told The Wall Street Journal, Ukraine’s ability to "reach so deep into Russia" has turned the country's vastness from a traditional strength into a modern "vulnerability."

For his part, Putin remains convinced that Russia can wear down its smaller neighbor and outlast the West's stamina. His decision to publicize the successful test of a new strategic nuclear missile is a stark reminder of the global stakes involved in this war of attrition, signaling to Washington and its allies that as the pressure on Moscow mounts, so too will the risks for the entire world.