{"id":533062,"date":"2025-10-28T10:34:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/533062\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T10:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:34:13","slug":"why-putins-invincible-nuclear-powered-missile-is-more-likely-to-become-a-disastrous-flying-chernobyl-for-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/533062\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Putin’s ‘invincible’ nuclear-powered missile is more likely to become a disastrous ‘flying Chernobyl’ for Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin\u2019s latest threats that Moscow is preparing to deploy its new \u201cinvincible\u201d nuclear-powered cruise missile<\/a> has drawn a rebuke from President Trump and a reminder of America\u2019s own nuclear might.<\/p>\n

But experts say the Burevestnik missile could end up being more like a disastrous \u201cflying Chernobyl\u201d for Russia \u2014 and proves Putin is actually nervous about the possibility of the US giving Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Russian President Vladimir Putin inspecting a military exercise via video link. ALEXANDER KAZAKOV\/SPUTNIK\/KREMLIN\/POOL\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

George Barros, of the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, described Putin\u2019s ominous Sunday announcement as a form of fear mongering<\/a> from a Kremlin afraid that the US could give Kyiv a much more conventional weapon \u2014 the tried and true Tomahawk. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw Putin ostentatiously present the [Burevestnik] missile<\/a> and the details of the test flight, but that presentation was not about the missile, its goal was to drive at emotions and fears,\u201d Barros said of Moscow\u2019s threat. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to stop the West from supporting Ukraine out of fear using this cruise missile,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is something Americans shouldn\u2019t lose sleep over.\u201d <\/p>\n

Testing of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile in a laboratory. Russian Ministry of Defense<\/p>\n

While little is known about the specifics of the Burevestnik, which NATO code-named Skyfall, Putin has touted it as an \u201cinvincible\u201d weapon capable of bypassing all current and future missile defense systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Putin and his officials claimed the nuclear-powered missile flew for 15 hours straight, covering a distance of about 8,700 miles, which would make it capable of reaching major US cities.<\/p>\n

Moscow has previously boasted that it can fly between 528 to 800 miles per hour, which would make it difficult, but impossible, to intercept, experts say.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But many observers are skeptical that the Skyfall missile boasts all of the advances that Putin claims \u2014 and that Russia is even capable of constructing such a weapon.<\/p>\n

Russia \u2014 along with the US, China and other countries \u2014 have been putting nuclear warheads on missiles for decades. <\/p>\n

However, the 40-foot Burevestnik is purportedly powered by a small nuclear reactor, which allows it to fly for a much longer time than other missiles.<\/p>\n

The US abandoned efforts to build nuclear-powered missile weapons during the 1950s arms race with the Soviet Union as a nuclear-powered missile would effectively be a huge radiation risk.<\/p>\n

Launch of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile. Russian Ministry of Defense<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation expert at Middlebury College, described it as a \u201ctiny flying Chernobyl,\u201d referencing the Soviet power plant that melted down and covered a 1,600-mile area with toxic radiation. <\/p>\n

During a 2019 test at a navy base in the White Sea, a Burevestnik missile reportedly exploded, killing five nuclear engineers and two service members<\/a>, with radiation levels spiking in the area for a time.<\/p>\n

While Lewis believes the Burevestnik is only capable of subsonic speed and easy to intercept, he warned that Russia\u2019s ambition poses a return to the Cold War era.<\/p>\n

\u201cNATO aircraft could intercept it. The problem is that Burevestnik is yet another step in an arms race that offers no victory for either side,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite Moscow\u2019s claims that the weapon was being prepared for the frontlines, Barros said Russia would not dare use the missile, or else it would risk a nuclear counterattack.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur assessment shows that the logic of mutually assured destruction that kept us safe during the Cold War would still apply, so it doesn\u2019t matter how advanced Russia claims its nuke is,\u201d Barros noted.<\/p>\n

Many question whether Putin and Russia\u2019s claims about the missile\u2019s capabilities are exaggerated. AP<\/p>\n

A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile test-fired from Plesetsk launch facility in northwestern Russia. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin is waving his nuclear rattle, all while members of his team, like [special envoy] Kirill Dmitriev are in the US working to try and convince the US that Russia and America should be allies,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Barros also said that President Trump\u2019s tough response to Russia, warning of nuclear retaliation<\/a>, was \u201cthe perfect\u201d answer to Putin buffing his chest. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not playing games with us. We\u2019re not playing games with them either,\u201d\u00a0Trump said, telling reporters that the US has a nuclear submarine stationed \u201cright off\u201d Russia\u2019s shore. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian strongman Vladimir Putin\u2019s latest threats that Moscow is preparing to deploy its new \u201cinvincible\u201d nuclear-powered cruise missile…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[2598,332,657,753,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-533062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-missiles","9":"tag-russia","10":"tag-ukraine","11":"tag-ukraine-war","12":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115451347914433563","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}