Putin warns his Satan II missiles will be deployed for combat duty ‘in the near future’

Vladimir Putin warned today that his terrifying new Satan II missiles – capable of carrying ten nuclear weapons – will be deployed for combat purposes in the “near future”.

The Russian leader threatened the West with his new Satan-II big-beast 208-ton nuclear apocalypse missile while speaking to military graduates at the Grand Kremlin Palace.

The giant missile – which can reportedly reach the UK in just three minutes and is known in Russian as Sarmat – has suffered embarrassing developmental delays.

But Putin said launch pads for the “unstoppable” 15,880 mph rocket – the size of a 14-story tower block – will be put on “combat duty.”

It is said to be the world’s longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of hitting a target 11,200 miles away. Carrying ten or more nuclear warheads is enough to wipe out areas the size of England or France in a single strike.

The dictator also claimed that his “special military operation” to invade Ukraine has brought “priceless experience” to the Russian armed forces.

He forgot to mention the hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries he has caused by waging war.

“The main goal here is the development of the nuclear triad, the main guarantor of Russia’s military security and global stability,” Putin said in a chilling message.

“Nearly half of our Strategic Missile Force units are equipped with the latest Yars complexes,” he boasted.

“Troops are being re-equipped with modern missile systems with the Avangard hypersonic warhead.

‘Soon the first launch pads from Sarmat [Satan-2] with a new heavy missile will be put into combat service.

“The arsenals of the aviation and naval components of the strategic nuclear forces are being replenished.

“In January 2023, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov entered combat duty…equipped with the latest Zircon hypersonic missiles.”

Putin clearly intended his message to threaten the West.

Still, the Satan-2 warning can be seen as a blunder.

It is the latest of many statements from Russian officials that the missile is ready for deployment.

Expected tests of the Armageddon multi-warhead weapon apparently did not happen.

It missed an earlier deployment deadline of late 2022, with some reports suggesting a failed test launch in February.

In June 2022, Putin said he would place the first batch of missiles in combat service by the end of the year.

More than a year ago, ex-head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, seen as a close ally of Putin, said nearly 50 mass-produced Satan-2 missiles would soon be in combat service.

At around the same time, a major ICBM test was planned and locals near the Kura test range were warned to steer clear of the target site in remote Kamchatka.

But this test never happened.

On June 25, Rogozin boasted: “We are absolutely on schedule, we are now preparing for the second test flight of the Sarmat.”

The following month, Putin fired Rogozin for unknown reasons.

Defense analysts who suspect hypersonic exaggeration have pointed out that Russia’s R-36M2 Voevoda missile was tested no less than 17 times before being put into combat service.