Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced that Russia had successfully tested the Poseidon, a nuclear-powered underwater drone that he described as having no equivalent in the world. The test, conducted on Tuesday, comes just days after Putin confirmed the trial of another nuclear-capable missile, the Burevestnik, signaling a new phase in Moscow’s weapons development program. “There is nothing like this in the world in terms of the speed and the depth of the movement of this unmanned vehicle — and it is unlikely there ever will be,” Putin said during a televised address. He claimed there were “no ways to intercept” the Poseidon. The Russian leader did not disclose where the drone was launched from or how far it travelled but said it had “travelled for a certain amount of time.”

The Poseidon, unveiled by Putin in 2018, is among six so-called superweapons developed by Russia to enhance its strategic deterrence capabilities. The unmanned underwater drone is believed to be capable of travelling at speeds up to 100 knots (about 115 mph) and is designed to evade missile defences and create a tsunami powerful enough to devastate coastal cities. For years, Western analysts had expressed skepticism about the weapon’s existence after it was first seen in a 2015 leak on Russian state television during a meeting between Putin and senior generals. Putin’s announcement follows his statement on Sunday that Russia had also successfully tested the Burevestnik nuclear-capable cruise missile, which he said had “unrivaled advantages” and could activate its nuclear reactor within “minutes or seconds.” The developments come amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington. The weapons tests were announced just days after a planned summit between Putin and former U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed, derailing apparent ceasefire discussions. Trump on Monday called the testing of a nuclear-powered missile “inappropriate.”