Russia has successfully tested its new Satan-2 intercontinental ballistic missile, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
Putin said that Russia planned to put the missile, also known as Sarmat, on combat duty by the end of this year.
The Satan-2 is a 208-ton, silo-launched ‘apocalypse’ rocket the size of a 14-storey building capable of reaching 15,880mph.
It is designed to deliver nuclear warheads to strike targets thousands of miles away in the US or Europe.
‘It has the ability to penetrate all existing and future anti-missile defence systems,’ Putin said in remarks today.
Sergei Karakayev, leading Russia’s strategic missile forces, confirmed through state media that the recent test demonstrated the weapon’s expected capabilities.
Putin also said that work on the ‘Poseidon’ and ‘Burevestnik’ small nuclear propulsion systems were in its final stages.
The Kremlin’s propaganda machine has repeatedly claimed that the Poseidon could ‘sink’ Britain under ‘radioactive tidal waves’, while the Burevestnik has been dubbed a ‘flying Chernobyl.’
A grab from footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry on May 12, 2026, shows the launch of the Sarmat
The military exercises, which involved intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICMBs), lasted until May 10, according to reports.
Between May 9 and 11, 2026, a Russian NOTAM indicated a SS-N-23 missile launch from the Barents Sea to the Kura test range.
To monitor this and a potential simultaneous Sarmat ICBM test, two USAF Cobra Ball aircraft were deployed on an overnight reconnaissance mission.
Two US RC-135S Cobra Ball aircraft, designed to track ballistic missile tests, had been active on patrols from Alaska in recent days.
According to local media, the Russian leader noted that the Sarmat is the most powerful missile system in the world, and the total yield of the warhead delivered by this missile is four times greater than that of any Western analogue.
He said: ‘The missile can travel not only along a ballistic trajectory, but also along a suborbital trajectory, which allows for a range of over 35,000 km while simultaneously doubling its accuracy and the ability to penetrate all existing and future missile defense systems.’
Karakayev added: ‘The positive results of the Sarmat missile system launch will allow us to deploy the first missile regiment armed with this missile system to combat duty in the Uzhur formation of Krasnoyarsk Krai by the end of this year.’
‘The deployment of launchers with the Sarmat missile system will significantly enhance the combat capabilities of the ground-based strategic nuclear forces to reliably destroy targets and fulfill strategic deterrence missions.’
Tuesday’s reported successful launch of the RS-28 Sarmat is the missile’s first achievement since a test in April 2022.
In September 2024, the monster hypersonic missile exploded on the launchpad at Plesetsk cosmodrome leaving a 200ft wide crater.
Satellite images showed the destruction left behind by the blast at the Plesetsk test site in northern Russia, which partially wrecked an observation building close to the launch site.
Fires raged for six-to-twelve hours after the catastrophic incident, according to NASA FIRMS, and several fire trucks were seen at the blitzed site.
The Putin-controlled Russian state media was censored from reporting the explosion at Plesetsk – or the reason behind it.
And a test launch in November 2025 near Yasny, Orenburg region when a rocket flipped soon after takeoff and crashed triggering a giant explosion was reported as being a Sarmat, despite no official confirmation.
Meanwhile, the Poseidon is said to be 20 metres long and nearly two metres wide. Reports indicate that it weighs 100 tons.
It is capable of travelling up to 6,200 miles with a speed of 115 miles per hour deep underwater.
Russia has successfully tested its new Satan-2 intercontinental ballistic missile, Sergei Karakayev, the commander of the strategic missile forces, told Putin
Jeffrey Lewis, a scholar at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, wrote in Foreign Policy last year of the weapon: ‘It’s downright terrifying.
‘We’re talking about a massive, megaton-sized thermonuclear weapon designed to produce significant, long-lasting radiation effects.’
Other officials have also warned that the weapon could be fired from unexpected directions.
The Burevestnik has meanwhile been described as a ‘flying Chernobyl’, with the Kremlin claiming it flew 8,700 miles for 15 hours straight during a test flight.
Putin also mentioned the Oreshnik missile system on Tuesday, saying it can be equipped with nuclear warheads.
Lieutenant General Andrei Gurulev added that the Oreshnik system is ready for immediate use in the event of ‘provocations’ from Ukraine.
Putin’s TV propagandists previously threatened to use the Satan-2 missile to hit the west.
Earlier this year, a hardline Russian MP warned that it is ‘inevitable’ Russia will strike Britain to wipe it off the earth.
Andrey Gurulev, a reservist general and pro-Putin MP, insisted that the Kremlin would avenge the Ukrainian use of British Storm Shadow missiles against his country.
He told Kremlin-controlled state television: ‘There’s still going to come a point where we’re going to strike. It is inevitable.
