Putin hails Russia’s check launch of a brand new ballistic missile

MOSCOW — Russia on Tuesday test-fired a brand new intercontinental ballistic missile as a part of efforts to modernize the nation’s nuclear forces, a launch hailed by President Vladimir Putin simply days after his declare that the preventing in Ukraine is nearing an finish.

Putin mentioned that the nuclear-armed Sarmat missile would enter fight service on the finish of the 12 months. It was constructed to exchange the getting old Soviet-built Voyevoda.

“This is the most powerful missile in the world,” Putin declared, including that the mixed energy of the Sarmat’s individually focused warheads is greater than 4 occasions increased than that of any Western counterpart.

The Russian chief has repeatedly brandished the nuclear sword after sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to attempt to deter the West from ramping up help for Ukraine.

After overseeing a navy parade on Crimson Sq. on Saturday commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World Battle II, which for the primary time in almost twenty years did not embrace heavy weapons, Putin declared the battle in Ukraine is coming to an finish.

Since coming to energy in 2000, Putin has overseen efforts to improve the Soviet-built parts of the Russian nuclear triad — deploying tons of of recent, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, commissioning new nuclear submarines and modernizing nuclear-capable bombers.

Russian Strategic Missile Forces chief, Col. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, left on the display, studies to President Vladimir Putin on a profitable check launch of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile on the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Could 12, 2026.

Mikhail Metzel/Pool Sputnik Kremlin

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Mikhail Metzel/Pool Sputnik Kremlin

Russia’s effort to revamp its nuclear forces pushed the US to launch a pricey modernization of its arsenal.

The final remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the U.S. expired in February, leaving no caps on the world’s two largest atomic arsenals for the primary time in additional than a half-century and fueling fears of an unconstrained nuclear arms race.

The Sarmat — designated “Satan II” within the West — is supposed to exchange about 40 Soviet-built Voyevoda missiles. Its growth started in 2011 and earlier than Tuesday, the missile had just one recognized profitable check and reportedly suffered an enormous explosion throughout an abortive check in 2024.

Putin mentioned Tuesday that the Sarmat — a part of a slew of recent weapons that Putin revealed in 2018, claiming they might render any potential U.S. missile defenses ineffective — is as highly effective because the Voyevoda however with the next precision. It’s able to suborbital flight, he mentioned, giving it a variety of greater than 35,000 kilometers (21,700 miles) and an prolonged functionality to penetrate any potential missile defenses.

Moscow’s new weapons embrace the Avangard hypersonic glide car, able to flying 27 occasions quicker than the pace of sound. The primary automobiles have already entered service.

Russia has additionally commissioned the brand new nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, and used its conventionally-armed model twice to strike Ukraine. Oreshnik’s vary of as much as 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) makes it able to reaching any goal in Europe.

Putin additionally introduced Russia was within the “final stages” of the event of the nuclear-armed Poseidon underwater drone and the Burevestnik cruise missile powered by miniature atomic reactors.

The Poseidon is designed to blow up close to enemy coastlines and trigger a radioactive tsunami. The Burevestnik has nearly limitless vary because of nuclear propulsion, permitting it to loiter for days, circling air defenses and attacking from an sudden route.

Putin has described these new weapons as a part of a Russian response to the U.S. missile protect that Washington developed after its 2001 withdrawal from a Chilly Battle-era U.S.-Soviet pact that restricted missile defenses.

Russian navy planners have feared a missile protect might tempt Washington to launch a primary strike that will knock out most of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal in hopes of intercepting a small variety of 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 a strategic balance of power and parity,” Putin mentioned.