Russia tests Poseidon nuclear underwater drone, its second new nuclear weapons system test in days, defying US calls to focus on Ukraine war.
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin announced Russia has successfully tested a nuclear-powered underwater drone, marking Moscow’s second new nuclear weapons system test in days despite warnings from US President Donald Trump.
Putin confirmed the Poseidon unmanned underwater device test during a visit to a military hospital treating soldiers wounded in Ukraine.
The Russian leader stated there was “no way to intercept” the drone torpedo, which he claimed can travel faster than conventional submarines and reach any continent.
Putin asserted no country could match Poseidon’s speed and diving depth, adding “it is unlikely that anything similar will appear in the near future.”
According to a Russian military-industrial source quoted by TASS, the device operates at depths exceeding one kilometre and travels up to 70 knots while remaining undetectable.
First tested in 2018, the Poseidon can carry a nuclear warhead of up to two megatons, the source told the state news agency.
This follows Putin’s Sunday test of the Burevestnik cruise missile, which he said had an “unlimited range.”
Trump called that earlier exercise not “appropriate” and urged Putin to focus on ending the Ukraine conflict instead.
“He ought to get the war ended,” Trump said. “A war that should have taken one week is now soon in its fourth year. That’s what he ought to do instead of testing missiles.”
The US president last week cancelled a planned summit with Putin in Budapest, citing the Russian leader’s unwillingness to compromise on ending the conflict.
Trump has shown increasing frustration with Putin, who has rejected multiple ceasefire calls since the US president returned to office in January.
Washington responded last week by imposing sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, with Trump complaining that his talks with Putin to end the Ukraine war “don’t go anywhere.”
Putin first revealed Russia had developed both the Burevestnik and Poseidon weapons during a strongly anti-Western speech in 2018. – AFP
