It looks like a Russian ICBM test ended in disaster, hinting at new missile problems as Ukraine war pressures mount, analysts say

However, they added, the latest apparent disaster for the RS-28 “does suggest that Russia continues to struggle with developing new missile capabilities under the pressures of international sanctions and the demands on the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) amid the war in Ukraine.”

Western countries have placed crippling sanctions on Russia since the start of the war. However, despite these efforts, Moscow continues to receive significant military support from other pariah countries like Iran and North Korea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rattled the nuclear saber throughout the Ukraine war, flaunting his country’s substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons while warning the Western coalition backing Kyiv that it must avoid red lines and certain levels of support for the eastern European country.

Western officials and experts have denounced Putin’s threats as unnecessarily escalatory.

Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, with nearly 6,000 warheads, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. The US has the second-largest inventory at more than 5,200.