Russia's Defence Ministry says its new intercontinental ballistic missile has failed in the latest of 12 test launches, as video footage from near the launch site appears to show odd swirling lights in the sky.
The seventh failure of the Bulava dents Kremlin hopes that the submarine-launched missile will become a key part of Russia's nuclear arsenal. Officials were hoping to complete tests this year.
Photographs and amateur video footage have been circulating the internet of mysterious spiraling lights over northern parts of Norway, a few hundred kilometres away from the launch site in Russia's White Sea.
The Defence Ministry said Thursday it did not know whether the lights in the sky were the Bulava, a missile with the capacity to carry multiple nuclear warheads.
AP