Putin’s rockets are wonky, Ukraine claims: Russia’s nuclear-capable intercontinental missile ‘went off course’ in tests
- On November 1, tests were conducted on the RS-24 Yars ballistic missile
- This missile system with a speed of 25,880 km/h is the size of a 14-storey tower block
Two major Russian nuclear missile tests have failed, Ukrainian military intelligence says.
On November 1, Vladimir Putin’s forces “conducted an unsuccessful test of the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, which is the main part of the ground component of Russia’s strategic nuclear force.”
The missile “went off course, just as during the previous command and control exercises” on October 25, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate said.
“Similarly, the test launch of the RSM-56 Bulava ballistic missile from a… missile submarine on October 25, 2023 was unsuccessful, once again proving its insecurity.”
Russia has not previously admitted to missile test failures; it even said the launches were successful.
The reported failed test of the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, which was launched on October 25
Launch of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile on April 20, 2022
Weapon nicknamed ‘Satan II’ – can carry ten or more nuclear warheads
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the missile ‘went off course’
Ukraine’s GUR intelligence agency has not made any claims about how or where the missile tests failed, but if true, this is an embarrassing setback for Moscow.
The claims come as Russia has deployed its massive Sarmat missile system – known in the West as Satan-2 – with troops despite only one full test, Ukrainian intelligence says.
President Putin today visited Red Square on National Unity Day in Moscow, where he met the public.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (photo) visited Red Square today on National Unity Day in Moscow
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (photo left) with Putin attending a wreath laying ceremony at the Monument to Minin
Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and Putin discussing during the ceremony in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral
Putin (photo center) poses for a photo with members of the Young Army Cadets
Person taking a photo of Putin posing for a photo with a young army cadet
Putin talks to the head of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church Korniliy (photo left)
This ‘unstoppable’ intercontinental missile system with a speed of 25,880 km per hour is the size of a fourteen-storey tower block.
Satan-2 replaces RS-20 Voyevoda, but the Ukrainians claim it has “no advantage in terms of design, warhead or methods of overcoming missile defenses” and that it is an “unfinished, imperfect” missile.
Kiev also claimed that the delivery of new Tu-160M2 strategic bombers, scheduled for 2023, has been postponed, “because the Russians have failed to resume production of a new version of the NK-32 engine.”
Viktor Alksnis, a Soviet military tactician and politician known as the Black Colonel, had previously suggested that the October launch of the Yars had failed, as indicated in a video of the post-launch smoke trail from the Cosmodrome of Plesetsk.
He suggested “a rocket explosion in the acceleration portion of the flight path.”