Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to workers at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, Crimea, Monday, July 20, 2020.
(Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)MOSCOW Russia's President Vladimir Putin pledged Monday to continue an ambitious program of building new warships on a trip to Crimea, which Russia has annexed from Ukraine.
Putin said that the navy has commissioned 200 new ships over the past eight years, adding that the modernization will continue.
Putin said that the navy currently has 60 vessels on patrol missions.
The military has said that the new Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles capable of striking targets 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away, traveling at 9 times the speed of sound, have undergone successful tests and will equip future navy ships.