It’s Halloween, and Moscow’s wearing its favorite costume: nuclear superpower with a side of chaos. In this episode of The Restricted Handling Podcast, we dive headfirst into the madness of October 31st, 2025 — a day packed with missile launches, espionage twists, and geopolitical standoffs straight out of a Cold War reboot. 

President Trump has just announced that the United States is bringing back nuclear weapons testing for the first time since 1992, following Vladimir Putin’s chest-thumping over Russia’s new “superweapons” — the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater nuke drone. The Kremlin insists it’s all “routine,” but everyone else is sweating bullets. Meanwhile, Trump’s “on an equal basis” testing order is setting off global alarm bells and kicking the arms race into high gear. 

But that’s just the start. We break down the collapse of the planned Trump–Putin Budapest summit, where Moscow demanded Ukraine surrender more territory and give up on NATO entirely — a deal Washington quickly torpedoed. As diplomatic drama unfolded, Russia launched over 700 missiles and drones in a single night, hammering Ukraine’s power grid and pushing the war into a new phase. Ukraine’s defenses managed to down 600+ of them, but several still slammed energy sites across Kyiv, Lviv, and Zaporizhzhia. Even Poland scrambled fighters as drones edged toward NATO airspace. 

On the front lines, Pokrovsk is on fire — literally. Russian troops have forced their way deeper into the city, disguising themselves as civilians and flooding the area with drones, while Ukrainian forces fight building to building. Both sides are bogged down in brutal street warfare that’s turning the city into a symbol of resistance — and exhaustion. 

Inside Russia, the rot is spreading. Reports confirm that Russian commanders are executing their own troops for refusing suicidal assaults. The Kremlin is papering over the cracks with new reservist laws, youth militarization, and volunteer militias near the Finnish border. It’s repression meets desperation, and Putin’s regime looks more paranoid than powerful. 

We also unpack Moscow’s spy games — from a British ex-soldier caught passing intel to the FSB to Russian agents busted in Germany — plus Russia’s recruitment of Balkan mercenaries via shady Telegram channels. And just when you think the Kremlin’s stretched too thin, it resumes military flights to Syria, desperate to keep its Mediterranean foothold alive. 

It’s nukes, drones, spies, and chaos — a front-row seat to the world’s most dangerous soap opera. Tune in to RH 10.31.25 | Russia: Nukes, Drones, Spies & Chaos for your unfiltered, unclassified look at the madness behind the headlines.