Putin praises front-line successes and long-range nuclear missile

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin emphasized the military strength of the nuclear-armed power at a meeting with the Russian General Staff. The military has achieved numerous successes in the war against Ukraine , and the test of the Burevestnik long-range nuclear missile was also a success, Putin, appearing in uniform, said in a video released by the Kremlin.

Thousands of soldiers are said to be surrounded

At the meeting in a command center at an undisclosed location, Putin first received a briefing from Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov on the current situation at the front. According to the general, the Ukrainian garrisons of the cities of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region and Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region are encircled. He stated that 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers in each of these cities are affected by the encirclement.

These figures cannot be independently confirmed. The Ukrainian military portal "Deepstate" has merely drawn a semicircle from northeast to southwest around Pokrovsk, which is considered Russian-controlled. What is certain is that the fighting for the city has been raging for months.

"Invincible"

The Burevestnik nuclear missile was tested during the latest exercise of Russian nuclear forces on October 21. According to Chief of General Staff Gerasimov, the missile was in the air for 15 hours and traveled a distance of 14,000 kilometers. The Kremlin stated that the missile is "invincible" to current and future missile defense systems because it not only has a virtually unlimited range but also an unpredictable trajectory.

President Putin praised the missile as a "unique product that no one else in the world has." Russian specialists once told him the weapon would likely never be realized. But now the "crucial tests" have been completed.

Russia and the United States together possess about 87 percent of the world's nuclear weapons stockpile. According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), Russia possesses 5,459 nuclear warheads, while the United States possesses 5,177.

haz/pg (dpa, afp, rtr)