US President Donald Trump warned Vladimir Putin that the US “has a nuclear submarine off your shore” as he condemned a Russian nuclear-capable cruise missile test as “inappropriate”.
Putin said Russia had successfully tested its Burevestnik cruise missile, a weapon Moscow says can pierce any defence shield, in a move that has infuriated Washington. Moscow said the Burevestnik had flown for 14,000km.
Responding to Putin’s announcement, Trump fired back that the US did not need to fly so far as it already had a nuclear submarine off the coast of Russia.
“They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores, so I mean, it doesn’t have to go 8,000 miles,” Trump told reporters, according to an audio file posted by the White House.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine is ready for peace talks anywhere besides Russia and Belarus if those talks help to end the war – but that his forces will “take no steps back” on the battlefield to cede territory.
In comments to reporters released on Tuesday, the Ukrainian President also urged US lawmakers to pass tougher sanctions on Russia.
He added that Kyiv would need stable financing from its European allies for another two or three years.