Vladimir Putin is threatening an “overwhelming” response to deep strikes on Russia just days after his military tested a nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile which reportedly flew 8,700 miles.
Britain is pushing allies to deliver more long-range weapons for Ukraine to counter Putin’s war launched in February 2022.
Ukraine is targeting oil sites deep inside Russia with drones to hit Putin’s war machine.
It is also using British supplied Storm Shadow missiles, as well as those from other allies, to attack Russian military targets.
US president Donald Trump, whose moves to end the Ukraine war have been snubbed by Putin, has floated supplying Kyiv with Tomahawk missiles, though, has not followed through on this plan.
The Kremlin said on Sunday that Russian armed forces will respond forcefully in the event of strikes deep inside Russia.
“Like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin said, the response will be overwhelming,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
On Sunday, the Russian president said that Russia had successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile.
Moscow claims it can evade any defence system, and is threatening to move towards deploying the weapon.
A video released by the Kremlin showed Putin, dressed in camouflage fatigues, receiving a report from Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Russia's chief of general staff, who told the Russian leader that the Burevestnik covered 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) in a key test on Tuesday.
Putin said: “It is a unique ware which nobody else in the world has.”
The 9M730 Burevestnik, whose name translates as “storm petrel”, is a ground-launched, low-flying cruise missile that is not only capable of carrying a nuclear warhead but is also nuclear-powered.
Gen Gerasimov said the missile was in the air for about 15 hours during the test.
He said it travelled on nuclear power, could defeat any missile defence and has an unlimited range.
Its nuclear propulsion is designed to enable it to fly much further, for longer, than traditional turbojet or turbofan engines that are limited by how much fuel they can carry.
This would allow it to “loiter” for an extended period before hitting a target.
The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US-based non-profit security organisation, said it could stay aloft potentially for days.
“In operation, the Burevestnik would carry a nuclear warhead (or warheads), circle the globe at low altitude, avoid missile defenses, and dodge terrain; and drop the warhead(s) at a difficult-to-predict location (or locations),” it said in a 2019 report.
NATO refers to the missile as the SSC-X-9 Skyfall.
Some Western experts have questioned its strategic value, saying it won’t add capabilities that Moscow does not already have, and may disgorge radiation along its flight path.
They also argue that Burevestnik’s subsonic speed would make it detectable, and it would become more vulnerable the longer it stayed in flight.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies, quoting a specialist Russian military journal in 2021, said the Burevestnik would have a notional range of up to 20,000 km (12,400 miles), so could be based anywhere in Russia and strike targets in the United States or Europe.
The same Russian journal said the notional altitude of the missile was just 50 to 100 metres (164 to 328 feet), much lower than a conventionally powered cruise missile, which would make it harder for air-defence radar to detect.
A 2020 report by the United States Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center said that if Russia successfully brought the Burevestnik into service, it would give Moscow a “unique weapon with intercontinental-range capability”.
Experts assess that it would be sent aloft by a small solid-fuel rocket to drive air into an engine containing a miniature nuclear reactor. Superheated and possibly radioactive air would be blasted out, providing forward thrust.
But the Burevestnik has a poor test record with numerous past failures, according to Western experts.
In 2019 at least five Russian nuclear specialists were killed in an explosion and release of radiation during an experiment in the White Sea, and US intelligence sources said they suspected it was part of a test of the Burevestnik.
Meanwhile, Russian anti-aircraft units downed a second Ukrainian drone headed for Moscow on Sunday, said the capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin.
The first drone was downed earlier on Sunday.
Sobyanin said specialist teams were examining fragments of the drones where they had hit the ground
