Vladimir Putin could be preparing to test a nuclear-powered cruise missile known as the “Flying Chernobyl,” a weapon analysts say is designed to remain airborne for days.
A build-up of aircraft and ships in the Arctic has raised suspicions that Russia is close to another experimental launch of the missile, which is powered by its own onboard atomic reactor, according to analysts monitoring the region.
The Burevestnik missile, described by Russia as “invincible,” is said by Moscow to carry a nuclear warhead and have “unlimited range.” Its grim nickname reflects fears of the type of nuclear contamination associated with the 1986 Chernobyl power plant disaster, while Russian claims suggest it could fly for days before hitting targets in the West.
Norwegian defence analyst Thord Are Iversen said the latest activity resembles the preparations seen ahead of earlier tests of Putin’s experimental 9M730 Burevestnik cruise missile.
“It now appears that everything is ready for actual Burevestnik flight testing,” he told the independent Russian outlet The Insider.
Reports indicate that two specialist Il-976 SKIP aircraft, used to track missile flight paths and gather test data, have arrived at Rogachyovo airbase on the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic.
Satellite images also appear to show an A-50U airborne early-warning aircraft, four An-26 military transport planes, an An-74 and several helicopters at the base as attention focuses on a possible trial of Putin’s so-called Flying Chernobyl missile.
Civilian ships previously linked to missile tests have also moved into positions in the Barents and Kara seas near the Pankovo test range.
Fears have grown that Putin may be about to test a nuclear-powered cruise missile – dubbed the Flying Chernobyl (Pictured: A previous Burevestnik missile test in October 2019)
The ‘invincible’ missile carries a nuclear warhead with an ‘unlimited range’ and is designed to fly for days at a time before striking the West, according to Russia
Satellite imagery shows several support aircrafts appearing to be prepared for an imminent test of the nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile
In an October 2025 test, Russia’s top war commander General Valery Gerasimov said: ‘The missile flew for several hours, covering a distance of 14,000 kilometres [8,700 miles].’
This was during a 15-hour flight which ‘is not the limit’.
‘During the flight, the missile performed all the prescribed vertical and horizontal manoeuvres, demonstrating its high capabilities for evading missile and air defence systems,’ he told Putin.
A previous test in 2022 only lasted two minutes.
In 2019, a suspected Burevestnik-related accident killed multiple Russian nuclear specialists and caused a detectable radiation spike.
Critics say the very concept of a nuclear-propelled missile is reckless.
‘Nuclear-powered cruise missiles are not a new idea,’ Patrycja Bazylczyk, a research associate at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, has previously said. ‘They are just a bad idea.’
She added the world risks ‘radioactive wreckage or some other unintended consequence’.
Putin has recently been assembling a terrifying set of superweapons that have left Western leaders on edge, including nuclear-powered underwater drones, reactor-driven cruise missiles, hypersonic attack vehicles and even suspected space-based weapons.
The theory of a new Burevestnik test comes amid renewed fears that Russia could target British factories in a ‘semi-military’ response to the UK’s support for Ukraine.
The Russian despot warned that a ‘Pandora’s box has been opened’ following accusations that the UK is ‘participating in this war’.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrived in Kiev yesterday alongside several European leaders to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day and to share top secret missile plans with Zelensky that would allow his forces to build their own weapons, rather than rely on Anglo-French productions.
The move sparked a furious reaction from the Kremlin, with a senior Putin adviser now warning of a more aggressive response and claiming Russia views the UK as ‘evil number one.’
Former Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Fedorov told BBC Newsnight that Russia’s response to Mr Burnham’s announcement that the UK will share information for the long-range Scalp missile had been ‘very negative’, with Putin warning a ‘Pandora’s box’ was being opened.
Expanding on what ‘visible’ retaliation would look like, Mr Fedorov said: ‘It might be so-called technical reaction, maybe some hackers attack from unknown source – not from official level, of course.
‘There might be different political steps. And I cannot exclude 100 per cent that there might be some semi-military, for example.’
He clarified British factories producing drones for Ukraine could be targeted in such a move by ‘unknown sources’.
Hackers would also target what he described as ‘concrete enterprises’ linked to the production of drones or components for Storm Shadow (the British version of Scalp) missiles.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed earlier on Monday that Russian armed forces were intent on identifying ‘the production sites of such missiles’ and ‘the production sites of other military equipment’ in order to destroy them.
