Disaster for Putin as £38m Satan-2 ‘nuke’ explodes at launch site | World | News
Satellite imagery has appeared to show a massive crater at a Russian missile test centre after a nuclear-capable RS-28 Sarmat exploded in a humiliating blow for President Vladimir Putin.
The weapon – known in the West as Satan-2 – is regarded by the Kremlin as a powerful tool within its arsenal. However, the latest incident is believed to be the fourth successive failure, calling its reliability into question.
Sharing Planet Lab pictures taking at Plesetsk cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Oblast on social media, analyst MeNMyR commented: “As is readily apparent, the RS-28 Sarmat test was a complete failure.
“The missile detonated in the silo leaving a massive crater and destroying the test site. “The Sarmat is a liquid fuelled missile so this accident could have occurred separate from the actual launch activity.”
He continued: “If this occurred as part of the fuelling process, it could explain the lack of Cobra Ball activity on the day of the incident.
“This first, and last successful test of the Sarmat was April 20th, 2022. With these events now official, this is at least the 4th failed test attempt of the ‘combat operational’ Sarmat Heavy ICBM.
“Note the 4 fire trucks responding to the forest fire.” The R-28 Sarmat, measuring 35 metres in length, has an operational range of 11,000 miles, and is understood to cost £38 million per unit.
However, speaking in March, Kyiv military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko, of the Information Resistance Group, described Satan-2 as “unreliable and dangerous”.
He told RBC-Ukraine: “It’s a very problematic missile.
“The Russians couldn’t even manage test launches.”
The failure comes days after Russia boasted it has successfully tested its Angara 1.2 launch vehicle with military-use spacecraft at the same facility on Tuesday.
A Defence Ministry statement said: “The Aerospace Forces successfully launched the Angara-1.2 launch vehicle from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.
“At 10am, from the State Test Cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk Cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk Region, a combat crew of the Aerospace Forces space forces successfully launched the Angara-1.2 light launch vehicle with spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defence.”
It was not immediately clear whether the latest setback would delay future tests.
A major Ukrainian drone attack set multiple Russian arms depots ablaze, destroying what Ukraine‘s General Staff said were thousands of tons of weaponry, including missiles from North Korea.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, appealed for quick action from the United States to send more weapons before his visit to the White House next week with a multi-point “victory plan”.
Ukraine launched more than 100 drones at Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula overnight, Russian news reports and the Defence Ministry said yesterday.
