Satan II: How deadly are Putin’s nuclear missiles?
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Russia has said that Moscow’s RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, nicknamed “Satan II” – capable of carrying ten or more nuclear warheads – has been rolled out on “combat duty”. The missile was developed as a successor to the original “Satan” ICBM, otherwise known as the R-36 or Voevada, which dates from the Soviet era and could carry only 10 warheads and cover a range of 6,340 to 9,940 miles, compared with Satan II’s superior 6,200-11,180 miles, according to US Center for Strategic and International Studies data. The ‘Sarmat’ or ‘Satan II’ intercontinental ballistic missile Britain has previously dismissed such talk as empty sabre-rattling, with Julian Lewis, chair of the House of Commons’ Intelligence and Security Committee, saying: “Russia and the Western nuclear states have had the ability to annihilate each other ever since they acquired strategic nuclear bombers, followed by intercontinental ballistic missiles, over 60 years ago. “Putin adding this new missile to his pre-existing ‘overkill’ capability makes absolutely no difference to the effectiveness of our Trident nuclear deterrent submarines.” Russia’s defence ministry has admitted that its forces have fired hypersonic ballistic missiles in Ukraine, claiming to have destroyed a fuel depot in the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv and an underground ammunition store in western Ivano-Frankivsk.