President Donald Trump issued a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday after the Kremlin leader bragged about testing what he called an “invincible” nuclear-powered missile capable of striking the United States.

“They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shore,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he departed for Japan. “They’re not playing games with us. We’re not playing games with them either.”

The warning came just 24 hours after Putin publicly celebrated the long-range test of the Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered cruise missile the Russian military claims can fly 8,700 miles and evade Western missile defenses. Russian state television hailed the 15-hour test flight as a breakthrough, with Putin—dressed in military fatigues—calling the weapon “a unique product, unlike anything else in the world.”

“We need to identify potential uses and begin preparing the infrastructure for deploying this weapon in our armed forces,” Putin said Sunday, describing the Burevestnik—known to NATO as SSC-X-9 Skyfall—as a “new phase” in nuclear deterrence.

Trump, who dismissed Moscow’s boasts as theatrical saber-rattling, pointedly reminded reporters that the United States maintains a far more advanced nuclear arsenal.

“We test missiles all the time,” he said. “But you know, we do have a submarine, a nuclear submarine. We don’t need to go 8,000 miles.”

The Burevestnik missile, powered by a miniature nuclear reactor, has been nicknamed the “flying Chernobyl” for its potential radiation risks. Russian military officials claim it could theoretically remain airborne for days and reach targets anywhere on Earth—a capability Western analysts have long doubted.

“It is a tiny flying Chernobyl,” said Russian General Valery Gerasimov, in a televised briefing following the flight test. The Kremlin claims the weapon’s nuclear propulsion system gives it unlimited range, allowing it to bypass American missile shields.

But arms-control experts say the missile is more fantasy than fact. “This is one more science fiction weapon that is going to be destabilizing and hard to address in arms control,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation expert at Middlebury College.

“The technology behind a nuclear-powered cruise missile is extraordinarily dangerous and unpredictable,” Lewis added. “If it works at all, it’s an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen.”

The Burevestnik program has been plagued by failures and accidents for years, including a 2019 explosion at a test site in northern Russia that killed at least five nuclear scientists and briefly spiked radiation levels in surrounding areas.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)