Putin tests nuclear missiles after Trump meeting collapses

 Vladimir Putin has carried out nuclear missile tests and large-scale drills a day after his summit with Donald Trump was cancelled.

A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was test-fired from the Plesetsk launch facility in northwestern Russia, and a Sineva ICBM was launched by a submarine in the Barents Sea.

Strategic bomber forces also took part, with Tu‑95 aircraft launching long‑range cruise missiles, the Kremlin added in a statement.

Putin insisted that the exercises had been planned in advance, but the exercises took place amid growing tensions with Washington.

The show of force comes just a day after the collapse of planned talks between Mr Trump and the Russian president in Budapest to discuss ending the Ukraine war.

The US president has previously expressed deep anxiety over the threat of nuclear war, calling it “the greatest threat to humanity”.

The Hungary summit aimed to kickstart negotiations to reach a ceasefire, but was abandoned following a “tense” call between Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov, America and Russia’s top diplomats.

They disagreed over territorial concessions and Western arms deliveries to Kyiv, with Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Russia of “stalling tactics” to prolong the war.

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s military hit a key Russian chemical plant with British-made long-range Storm Shadow missiles.

The Bryansk chemical plant, which produces gunpowder, explosives and rocket fuel, was hit in a combined missile and air strike.

Moscow has warned the West not to give Ukraine long-range weapons, which Kyiv has said are used on legitimate military targets inside Russia.

At a White House meeting on Friday, Mr Trump indicated he was not ready to supply US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles to Mr Zelensky, a move that could bolster Kyiv’s long-range strike capability against Russian targets.

The US president had signalled willingness in recent weeks to send the long-range missiles to Kyiv, but changed tack on Friday, saying that he did not want to escalate the conflict or drain US stockpiles.

“Tomahawks are very dangerous weapons,” Mr Trump told reporters in the White House ahead of his meeting with Mr Zelensky. “It could mean escalation. Tomahawks are a big deal.”

“Hopefully, we will be able to end the war without thinking about Tomahawks,” he said. “We are fairly close to that.”

Mr Trump’s apparent U-turn came a day after he spoke by phone with Mr Putin, when the two leaders agreed to hold their summit in Budapest.

The US president said the meeting would happen “within two weeks” before it was cancelled.

Just last month, Trump appeared to take a major shift in his position towards ending the war, saying Kyiv could “win all of Ukraine back in its original form”, referring to Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It currently controls about 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory, including the southern Crimea peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.