Vladimir Putin has been preparing to test a new nuclear-armed cruise missile ahead of his meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska.
Russia’s Pankavo nuclear test site, located on the Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya, has seen a surge in activity in recent weeks, satellite images show.
The site has seen an increase in personnel and equipment, as well as ships and aircraft associated with earlier tests of the 9M730 Burevestnik (Storm Petrel).
A Western security source said that Russia was preparing a test of the Burevestnik missile, which Moscow claims has an unlimited range.
The tests have been taking place in the days leading up to crunch talks between Mr Trump and Putin in Anchorage later on Friday.
“We can see all of the activity at the test site, which is both huge amounts of supplies coming in to support operations and movement at the place where they actually launch the missile,” Jeffrey Lewis, one of the researchers involved in analysing the satellite images, said.
Mr Lewis, of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said a test could be carried out as soon as this week.
Satellite images show an influx of vehicles and personnel at the site on the Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya
Satellite images show an influx of vehicles and personnel at the site on the Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya, August 7 Credit: 2025 Planet Labs PBC/REUTERS
Putin is preparing to meet with Mr Trump at a US air force base in Alaska later today, though he is currently in the town of Magadan in Russia’s Far East for a meeting with the local governor.
The summit between the two leaders is scheduled to take place at 11.30am local time (8.30pm BST) at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, the US president said: “I am President, and he’s not going to mess around with me.”
Mr Trump said he expected the meeting with Putin to be followed up almost immediately with a summit involving Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, and potentially other European leaders.
“The more important meeting will be the second meeting that we’re having, we’re going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelensky, myself and maybe we’ll bring some of the European leaders, maybe not,” he said.
Ahead of the talks, Oleksiy Goncharenko, the MP for Odesa in Ukraine, said he feared a deal being made without Ukraine.
“We have hope that the war will end…but there are fears that Putin will manage to win more time and play games with Trump – and that Trump will allow it,” he told The Telegraph.
He added that the “worst case scenario” would be if Mr Trump and Putin agree to a deal that Ukraine cannot accept.
“Nobody can decide anything about Ukraine without Ukraine. If we lose US support, this would be a disaster.”
Source: The Telegraph