US President Donald Trump stated on Thursday that he has ordered to immediately begin testing the US nuclear arsenal. He cited the “testing programs of other countries” as the reason, following Russia's exercises of its nuclear forces. “Due to the testing programs of other countries, I have instructed the Department of Defense to begin testing our nuclear weapons on an equal footing,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. He added that the US has “more nuclear weapons than any other country,” followed by Russia and China in a “distant” third place. Trump's announcement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw on October 22nd from the Kremlin land, sea, and air exercises of the nuclear forces. In these “routine” exercises, according to Putin, Russian nuclear forces launched an intercontinental ballistic missile Yars—with a range of up to 12,000 kilometers—from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, located nearly 800 kilometers north of Moscow. The missile was launched toward the Kura training ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula, more than 6,000 kilometers from the launch site. The nuclear submarine 'Bryansk' also participated in the maneuvers, launching a Sineva ballistic missile from the Barents Sea, and several strategic Tu-95MS bombers fired cruise missiles. These exercises took place after the Russia-US summit in Budapest was postponed, as Moscow rejected a ceasefire in Ukraine as a condition for resuming peace negotiations.
