Vladimir Putin is threatening to stage an imminent major nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile test amid high tension with the West. Residents in remote peninsula Kamchatka have been warned of a rocket smashing into the Kura test site between today [WEDS] and Sunday.
This comes as Putin prepares for his annual military parade on Red Square on Saturday and defies a Ukrainian move for a ceasefire by blitzing a kindergarten in the border region of Sumy, killing one civilian woman. The ICBM missile test is evidently seen as a show of strength to the West and Ukraine. Two US RC-135S Cobra Ball aircraft – designed to track ballistic missile tests – have been stationed in Alaska since April 22, ahead of an expected Russian test, say reports. The last time a Russian ICBM test was conducted at Kura involved a Yars missile in October 2024. Then, it was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwestern Russia.
Defence Minister Andrei Belousov warned the West at the time that the war games were to show Russia could deliver “a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy.”
The Kura military testing range is in Ust-Kamchatsky, 310 miles north of regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. People are now banned from entering the area around the range.
A statement said: “The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation is warning residents of the region about tests being conducted at the Kura range in the Ust-Kamchatsky municipal district from May 6 to May 10 inclusive. Residents are urged to refrain from visiting the range and nearby territories during this period.”
This development comes as Vladimir Putin rejected a ceasefire proposed by Volodymyr Zelensky, even as preparations continued in Moscow for a military parade featuring a warplane flypast in the colours of the Russian flag.
Russia carried out several strikes across Ukraine, including one that hit a kindergarten in the border city of Sumy. The drone attack levelled the building, killing a female security guard and injuring two women aged 52 and 53.
Authorities have not yet confirmed whether more victims may be trapped under the debris. Fortunately, no children were present at the time. In a separate assault, a powerful KAB‑250 bomb was dropped on Druzhkivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv is deciding whether Ukraine could strike Moscow during Putin’s parade celebrations marking the 81st anniversary of the end of WW2.
He said: “We note that the Russian side has disrupted the ceasefire.”
