‘Not Playing Games’: Trump Responds To Putin Testing ‘Invincible’ Nuclear Cruise Missile

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday touted a successful test of his military’s new “invincible” nuclear-capable cruise missile, which means a next step of actually deploying the doomsday weapon as part of Russia’s strategic arsenal.

Putin oversaw the test in a video released by the Kremlin while dressed in military fatigues, which included him ordering his top general to start preparing the Burevestnik missile for integration into active forces. “We need to determine the possible uses and begin preparing the infrastructure for deploying these weapons to our armed forces,” Putin sated.

President Donald Trump has reacted to the announcement in an early Monday statement, saying it is “not appropriate” amid ratcheting tensions between Moscow and Washington and as peace talks have stalled.

Trump described that Putin should focus on ending the war with Ukraine rather than testing missiles. He was pressed on the issue by reporters on Air Force One regarding the nuclear test.

“They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores,” Trump posited in response. “We don’t need to go 8,000 miles. Putin ought to end the war — a war that should’ve taken one week is now in its fourth year,” he continued. “That’s what he ought to do instead of testing missiles.”

But he also noted of the US military, “We test missiles all the time.” He said this to perhaps downplay the seriousness of the event in the exchange with reporters:

“They are not playing games with us. We are not playing games with them either. We test missiles all the time,” he said.

While Russia first disclosed the test on Sunday, it actually took place on October 21 according to the Kremlin announcement.

Russia conducts test of new ‘invincible’ nuclear-capable cruise missile https://t.co/dcM93yJGBG pic.twitter.com/zuW95DETGk

— New York Post (@nypost) October 26, 2025

Citing Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, Russian media describes:

The missile completed a multi-hour flight that covered 14,000km, though he stressed that this is not the range limit for the Burevestnik.

“The technical characteristics of the Burevestnik missile make it capable of striking highly protected targets at any distance with guaranteed accuracy,” Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov stated.

“During the test flight, the missile successfully performed all designated vertical and horizontal maneuvers, demonstrating its strong ability to evade anti-missile and air defense systems.”

Below: audio of the Trump exchange with reporters…

Reporter asks Trump about Russia testing a missile with 8,000-mile range.

Trump:

They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores. We don’t need to go 8,000 miles.

Putin ought to end the war — a war that should’ve taken one week is now… pic.twitter.com/Yp14K4i1f8

— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 27, 2025

Gen. Gerasimov additionally described that no other nation in the world has such a ‘unique’ weapon which is practically invincible. “It is undetectable by conventional radar and can only be tracked by specialized spacecraft during the launch and acceleration phases,” Russian media has additionally claimed.

The Burevestnik project was first publicly disclosed during initial development by President Putin in 2018, when he said that a one-of-a-kind weapon with unlimited range and extreme maneuverability was being worked on.