CNN: Russia Unsuccessfully Tested Ballistic Missile During Biden’s Ukraine Visit

As Joe Biden met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Monday, Russia carried out a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that apparently failed, CNN reported Tuesday. One U.S. official close to the matter told the outlet that Moscow had given the U.S. advance notice of the test through deconfliction lines. It was not immediately clear when the warning was given; national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the U.S. told Russia that Biden would be visiting Ukraine just hours ahead of the trip. A second official told CNN that the launch did not put the U.S. at risk, and that American officials don’t view it as a sign of Russian escalation. Had the test been performed successfully, it is believed that Vladimir Putin would have emphasized it—or mentioned it at all—in his State of the Nation address on Tuesday.

Last April, Russia previously and successfully tested the same kind of super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile, known as the SARMAT. It was characterized by analysts at the time as “nuclear saber-rattling.” Read more at CNN.