Russia tested a new nuclear-capable and powered cruise missile fit to confound existing defences, inching closer to deploying it to its military, President Vladimir Putin said.

The announcement, which followed years of tests of the Burevestnik missile, comes as part of nuclear messaging from the Kremlin, which has resisted Western pressure for a ceasefire in Ukraine and strongly warned the US and other NATO allies against sanctioning strikes deep inside Russia with longer-range Western weapons.

A video released on Sunday by the Kremlin showed Putin, dressed in camouflage fatigues, receiving a report from General Valery Gerasimov, Russia's chief of general staff, who told the Russian leader that the Burevestnik covered 14,000 kilometres in a key test last Tuesday.

Gerasimov said the Bure

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