Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Swipe for next article
News of Moscow’s latest test comes days after Trump warned the US has a nuclear submarine off Russian shores
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Moscow has said that if the US resume nuclear weapons testing it will do so too, sparking fears of a renewed arms race.
The remarks by a Kremlin official on Thursday came after Donald Trump said he had ordered the US military to resume testing “immediately”.
Trump made the announcement after Vladimir Putin announced a successful test of a Poseidon nuclear-powered submarine torpedo which experts have warned is capable of causing a “radioactive tsunami”. The Russian president said the test of the weapon had been a “great success”, in a move that came days after Trump described Moscow’s test of a nuclear missile as a mistake.
There are few confirmed details about the Poseidon in the public domain but experts say it is capable of triggering radioactive ocean swells to render coastal cities uninhabitable, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Putin last week held a nuclear launch drill and on Sunday announced that Russia has successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, a nuclear-capable weapon Moscow says can pierce any defence shield.
The power supply will be limited in parts of Ukraine as Russian attacks hit energy facilities in central, western, and southeastern regions, Ukrainian officials said.
The government announced nationwide limits on electricity supplies to retail and industrial consumers. In some regions, water supplies and heating were also disrupted.
Regional officials said two energy facilities in the western Lviv region had been damaged. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said its thermal power stations in a number of regions were under attack.
“(T)his attack is a bad blow to our efforts to keep power flowing this winter,” said Maxim Timchenko, DTEK’s CEO.
“Based on the intensity of attacks for the past two months, it is clear Russia is aiming for the complete destruction of Ukraine’s energy system.”
Six children were among the 17 people wounded in strikes on Zaporizhzhia, its governor said. Four people were injured in the Vinnytsia region, officials said.
At least seven people, including a seven-year-old girl, was injured after Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and other targets yesterday, officials said.
Regional officials said two men were killed in the southeastern industrial city of Zaporizhzhia, and a seven-year-old girl from the central Vinnytsia region died in hospital from injuries sustained in the attacks.
The regional governor said a later drone strike on a village south of Zaporizhzhia killed one person and injured another.
Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko accused Moscow of targeting Ukrainian people and power supplies as the cold winter months approach.
“Its goal is to plunge Ukraine into darkness. Ours is to preserve the light,” Svyrydenko said on the Telegram app. “To stop the terror, we need more air defence systems, tougher sanctions, and maximum pressure on the aggressor,” she said.
Europe’s Nato allies have been shaken by Russian provocations on the bloc’s eastern frontier in recent months, reporting a string of drone incursions and scrambling jets to shadow aircraft flying over the Baltic.
Concern has mounted since September, when nearly two dozen drones crossed over into Poland amid a large-scale Russian drone attack on Ukraine. Days later, three Russian military jets violated Estonia’s airspace for 12 minutes.
Subsequent activity near the border has forced European countries to close airports and borders, and to reconsider how equipped they are to deal with foreign intrusions.
Analysts say that Russia is deliberately provoking Nato to see how it reacts, gathering information that might be useful when it decides the time is right to make a move against an alliance member.
Trump’s decision to resume nuclear weapons tests in the US is facing domestic criticism – and a stark warning it could lead to escalation.
Representative Dina Titus, a Democratic member of the U.S. Congress from Nevada, condemned the move, saying on X: “I’ll be introducing legislation to put a stop to this.”
Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association think tank, said it would take the US at least 36 months to resume contained nuclear tests underground at the former test site in Nevada.
“Trump is misinformed and out of touch. The US has no technical, military or political reason to resume nuclear explosive testing for the first time since 1992,” he said on X.
Trump’s announcement, he added, could “trigger a chain reaction of nuclear testing by US adversaries, and blow apart the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
President Vladimir Putin says Russia has conducted a successful test of a new atomic-powered and nuclear-capable underwater drone, declaring that the new weapon can’t be intercepted.
Speaking at a meeting with soldiers wounded in Ukraine, Putin said the Poseidon drone was tested while running on nuclear power for the first time Tuesday, describing it as a “huge success.”
He said Poseidon is unmatched in speed and depth and “there is no way to intercept it.”
He said the nuclear reactor that powers Poseidon is “100 times smaller” than those on submarines, and the power of its nuclear warhead is “significantly higher than that of our prospective Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile”.
Read more here:
Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, called Trump “misinformed and out of touch” after he announced that the US would be testing nuclear weapons.
“By foolishly announcing his intention to resume nuclear testing, Trump will trigger strong public opposition in Nevada, from all U.S. allies, and it could trigger a chain reaction of nuclear testing by U.S. adversaries, and blow apart the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Trump is misinformed and out of touch. The U.S. has no technical, military, or political reason to resume nuclear explosive testing for the first time since 1992. It would take least 36 months to resume contained nuclear tests underground at the former test site in Nevada. 1/ pic.twitter.com/wdTRf9EwVo
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attacked Trump’s order to the US military to test nuclear weapons, saying the “current nuclear risks are already alarmingly high.”
“We must never forget the disastrous legacy of over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests carried out over the last 80 years.
“Nuclear testing can never be permitted under any circumstances.”
Russia has killed six people, including a seven-year-old girl, in its latest round of attacks on Ukraine’s energy system.
Regional officials said two men were killed in the southeastern industrial city of Zaporizhzhia, and a seven-year-old girl from the central Vinnytsia region died in hospital from injuries sustained in the attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address that a bomb attack on a thermal power plant in Slovyansk killed two people and injured several others.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has accused Moscow of targeting Ukrainian people and power supplies as the cold winter months approach.
Svyrydenko said: “Its goal is to plunge Ukraine into darkness. Ours is to preserve the light.
“To stop the terror, we need more air defence systems, tougher sanctions, and maximum pressure on the aggressor.”
The United States is to resume nuclear weapons testing “immediately”, Donald Trump has announced, raising fears of renewed proliferation between the world’s two biggest stockpiles of atomic weaponry.
James C Reynolds and Maryam Zakir-Hussain look at what countries are armed with nuclear weapons:
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in