On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to test President Donald Trump‘s resolve in increasing pressure on Russia toward ending the war in Ukraine. Trump last week introduced new sanctions on Russian energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil to reduce the revenue those firms generate for the Kremlin’s war effort.

Putin tested Trump by receiving a public briefing from Russia’s top military officer, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, on the supposed imminent Russian encirclement of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, and the test of a new nuclear weapons system, the Burevestnik nuclear-powered and armed cruise missile. The nuclear-powered missile has the potential to remain aloft for extraordinarily long periods.

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