Putin praises Russia’s test launch of new ICBM known as Satan II, calling it “the most powerful missile in the world”

Russia on Tuesday test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile as part of efforts to renew the country’s nuclear capabilities, a launch hailed by President Vladimir Putin days after he claimed that fighting in Ukraine it’s about to end.

Putin said the nuclear-armed Sarmat missile will enter combat operations by the end of the year. It was built to replace the old Soviet-built Voyevoda.

“This is the most powerful missile in the world,” Putin said, saying the combined power of the Sarmat’s individual guided warheads is four times that of any of its Western counterparts.

The Russian leader has once again brandished the nuclear sword after sending troops to Ukraine in February 2022 to try to stop the West from rallying support for Ukraine.

After presiding over a military parade in Red Square on Saturday to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the first in nearly two decades that did not include heavy weapons, Putin announced that the conflict in Ukraine was coming to an end.

Since coming to power in 2000, Putin has overseen efforts to develop the Soviet-built components of Russia’s nuclear triad – deploying hundreds of land-based ballistic missiles, deploying new nuclear submarines and modernizing nuclear-capable bombers.

Russia’s attempt to modernize its nuclear forces pushed the United States to begin modernizing its costly arsenal.

The nuclear deal has expired

The final nuclear deal between Russia and the US expired in Februaryleaving nothing in the world’s two largest nuclear stockpiles for the first time in more than a century and fueling fears of an unrestrained nuclear arms race.

That same month, the US and Russia agreed reinvent formal, high-level military communications were suspended in late 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Sarmat – designated “Satan II” by NATO – is intended to intercept about 40 Soviet-built Voyevoda missiles. Its development began in 2011 and prior to now, the missile had only one known successful test and was reported to have experienced difficulties. a big explosion during the abortion test in 2024. A satellite image analyzed by CBS News at the time showed a large crater and remnants of a possible explosion on the launchpad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

The Sarmat is classified as a “heavy” ICBM and can carry a 10-ton payload, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Missile Defense Project.

Putin said on Tuesday that the Sarmat – part of a new arsenal unveiled by Putin in 2018, which he says will render any US missiles useless – is as powerful as the Voyevoda but with higher accuracy. It is capable of suborbital flight, he said, giving it a range of more than 21,700 miles and the extended ability to penetrate any missile defense system.

Moscow’s new weapons include the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, which can fly 27 times faster than the speed of sound. The first vehicles have entered service.

Russia also deployed a new nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate-range missile, and used its conventionally armed version twice to attack Ukraine. Oreshnik’s range of up to 3,100 miles enables it to reach any target in Europe.

Putin also announced that Russia is in the “final stages” of developing the nuclear-armed Poseidon underwater drone and the Burevestnik cruise missile powered by subatomic particles. Poseidon is designed to explode near enemy shores and cause a radioactive tsunami. The Burevestnik has unlimited range thanks to its nuclear propulsion, which allows it to roam for days, bypass air defenses and attack from an unexpected location.

Putin described the new weapons as part of Russia’s response to a US missile defense system built up by Washington after it withdrew in 2001 from a Cold War-era US-Soviet treaty that limited missile defense.

Russian military planners fear the missile defense could tempt Washington to launch a strike that would take out most of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal in hopes of intercepting the few surviving missiles fired in retaliation.

“We were forced to consider ensuring our strategic security in the face of the new reality and the need to maintain balance of power and equality,” Putin said.

The nuclear deal that expired in February was a bilateral agreement between the US and Russia, with about 4,300 and 3,700 nuclear warheads respectively, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

Meanwhile, the governments of the US and Ukraine drafted a memorandum outlining the terms of a potential new deal. drone defense agreement between countries, three sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.