Russia Puts Feared Nuclear ‘Satan 2’ Missiles On Combat Duty
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Russia on Friday prepared to attack targets with its feared nuclear-capable Sarmat missiles, nicknamed Satan 2, with authorities saying they had been put on “combat duty.”
The missiles are capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads. Already in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Sarmat missiles would be deployed for combat duty “soon.”
However, Friday’s move, confirmed by Yury Borisov, the head of Russia’s space agency Roskosmos, seemed in response to a Ukrainian drone attack on a western town with one of the nation’s largest nuclear power stations.
Moscow also said Russian air defenses intercepted drones heading toward three western regions.
Regional governors claimed defense systems stopped three drones in the Kursk, Belgorod, and Moscow regions.
Governor Roman Starovoit said a Ukrainian drone had damaged the facade of a building in the town of Kurchatov, just a few kilometers (miles) from the Kursk nuclear power station, early on Friday.
Yet Russia’s decision to deploy Sarmat missiles, nicknamed Satan 2, was a clear warning to Ukraine and the West, which backs Kyiv with billions in military aid.
SPECIAL DESIGN
The RS-28 Sarmat ICBM, code-named Satan 2 by the NATO military alliance, was developed by the JSC Makeyev Design Bureau and replaced the R-36 Voevoda, code-named “Satan.”
The missile is 116 feet (35.3 meters) long, weighs 220 tons, and can reportedly carry up to 15 light nuclear warheads, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Satan 2 has an estimated range of 6,200 and 11,180 miles, 10,000 to 18,000 kilometers, making Western centers of power, including Washington, London, Brussels, Berlin, or Paris, easily within reach.
With a reported hypersonic speed of up to 16,000 miles per hour (nearly 26,000 kilometers per hour), Satan 2 could hit these cities within minutes.
Moscow’s decision to put them in combat mode was due to further internationalizing the war in Ukraine after Moscow warned Kyiv it would respond to its drone attacks and earlier did not rule out using nuclear weapons.
The deployment follows a noticed escalation in nuclear-themed rhetoric and threats by Russian officials and TV personalities in recent weeks as Ukraine intensified its counteroffensive against invading Russian forces.
On Friday, the United States said Ukraine’s forces made “notable progress” in their push against heavily fortified Russian positions in the south.
LIMITED GAINS
White House security spokesman John Kirby said those gains were made in the past 72 hours south of Zaporizhzhia.
Russia says it has taken strategic heights near the city of Kupiansk in north-eastern Ukraine. None of the claims have been independently verified.
However, Kirby acknowledged that Kyiv had admitted that the push in the south – aimed at splitting the Russian land corridor to Crimea, was slower than hoped.
Yet Ukraine’s foreign minister sharply rebuked critics of his country’s counteroffensive, challenging them to “try to liberate one square centimeter by themselves.”
Speaking at a press conference in Toledo, next to the Spanish foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba said: “Criticising the slow pace of [the] counteroffensive equals spitting into the face of [the] Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward and liberating one kilometer of Ukrainian soil after another.”
He added: “I would recommend all critics to shut up.”
The ongoing war is believed to have killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people on both sides, including soldiers and civilians.
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