Why timing of Putin’s ‘Flying Chernobyl’ test has worried West

Russia has just tested what experts are calling the “Flying Chernobyl”, a nuclear-powered cruise missile that can fly for 15 hours and 14,000 kilometers without refueling. But the bigger story may be its timing. The test happened the very same day Donald Trump said he didn’t want a “wasted meeting” with Vladimir Putin, after plans for a face-to-face over the Ukraine war were put on hold. As diplomacy stalls, Moscow is sending its own message through the skies: Russia isn’t waiting for talks; it’s rewriting the rules. In this episode of Grey Zone, Ananya Dutta decodes what this test really means, not just for the war in Ukraine, but for Trump’s already fragile strategy to contain Putin. Is this the beginning of a new nuclear brinkmanship? Or just another move in Russia’s game of radioactive poker?