Overview
- After first ordering a restart, President Trump said the United States will conduct nuclear tests only if other countries do so first, and the Pentagon reported no test activity under way.
- Russia and China cautioned that they would react if the moratorium is broken, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressing recent Russian weapons trials were not nuclear tests and Sergei Shoigu noting countries continue non-explosive simulations.
- Reuters reporting cited by ANSA says Russia has fired the 9M729 (SSC-8) cruise missile at Ukraine 23 times since August, a system Washington deeming in violation of the former INF Treaty and capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads.
- At Busan, Trump and Xi outlined a one-year commercial truce featuring a Chinese pause on new rare-earth export controls, U.S. tariff reductions tied to fentanyl enforcement that lower average rates to about 47%, and planned Chinese purchases of U.S. soy and energy.
- Analysts and official tallies show China’s arsenal at roughly 600 warheads with trajectories toward 1,000–1,500 in the next decade, heightening concern over the weakening Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban framework that has never entered into force.