President Donald Trump issued a sharp warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday, hours after the Kremlin claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear-powered cruise missile capable of reaching targets in the United States. Speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Japan, Trump reminded Moscow that the U.S. maintains "the greatest nuclear submarine in the world, right off their shores."
"They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shore," Trump told reporters. "We test missiles all the time, but you know, we do have a submarine, a nuclear submarine. We don't need to go 8,000 miles." He added, "They're not playing games with us. We're not playing games with them either."
The remarks came after Putin on Sunday hailed the successful test of Russia's new Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile - known by NATO as the SSC-X-9 Skyfall - which Russian media described as "invincible." Dressed in military fatigues, Putin called the 8,700-mile, 15-hour test flight "a unique product, unlike anything else in the world." He added that Russia would "begin preparing the infrastructure for deploying this weapon in our armed forces."
U.S. officials and independent experts have expressed concern about the Burevestnik, which Russian generals say is capable of evading Western missile defenses because of its unlimited range. General Valery Gerasimov, Russia's chief of the general staff, called it "a tiny flying Chernobyl," referencing the 1986 Soviet nuclear disaster.
"This is a bad development. It is one more science fiction weapon that is going to be destabilizing and hard to address in arms control," Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation expert at Middlebury College, told UPI.
Trump, meanwhile, criticized Putin's timing and motives, saying the Russian leader should focus on ending the conflict in Ukraine instead of boasting about weapons development. "I don't think it's an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying. By the way, he ought to get the war ended," Trump said. "A war that should have taken one week is now in its, soon, fourth year. That's what he ought to do instead of testing missiles."
The exchange followed reports that a planned follow-up meeting between Trump and Putin collapsed, as Washington and Moscow remain at odds over Ukraine and global arms control. The war, which began after Russia's invasion in February 2022, has hardened into a prolonged conflict despite multiple failed ceasefires.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed new U.S. sanctions on Russia announced last week but said further support - particularly long-range missiles - is needed. "President Trump is concerned about escalation," Zelensky told Axios on Sunday. "But I think that if there are no negotiations, there will be an escalation anyway. I think that if Putin doesn't stop, we need something to stop him. Sanctions is one such weapon, but we also need long-range missiles."
