The testing of the intercontinental missile Sarmat (Satan II) ended in failure. Satellite images show a crater appearing at a test site in Russia, a sign of a powerful explosion.
In a satellite image of the Plesețk test site in the Arkhangelsk region (northwest Russia), published on the MeNMyRC account on the X platform, a huge crater can be seen, presumed to have been caused by an explosion. The photograph was taken on Saturday, reports Meduza.
Military analyst MT Anderson draws attention to the four engines visible in the image. He says these details indicate that an intercontinental ballistic missile Sarmat exploded in the silo.
"As seen, the RS-28 Sarmat test was a total failure. The missile exploded in the silo, leaving a massive crater and destroying the test site. Sarmat is a liquid-fueled rocket, so this accident could have occurred independently of actual launch activity," he wrote.
Pavel Podvig, a senior researcher at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, posted a satellite photo and also suggested that this crater is a consequence of unsuccessful Sarmat tests.
The Telegram channel Voyennyy Osvedomitel ("Military Informer") writes about a possible unsuccessful missile test. "In addition to satellite images of the failed test site, a serious fire was detected in the explosion area by NASA's fire monitoring satellite, FIRMS," the post reads.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported the only successful tests of Sarmat in April 2022. In February 2023, sources cited by CNN said that on the day of Joe Biden's visit to Kiev, Russia conducted an unsuccessful launch of the Sarmat missile. Moscow denied this information.
On September 1, 2023, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced that the strategic Sarmat system had been put on combat alert.
Vladimir Putin announced successful ICBM tests in the past, including in April 2022, just a few months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Western experts have described the missile as a "nuclear sword," and the test was seen as an attempt to divert attention from Russia's military failures at that time, such as the sinking of the flagship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, Moskva.
According to Russian state media, the Sarmat missile, first unveiled in 2016, has a range of up to 18,000 kilometers and can carry a 10-ton warhead.
Putin has warned in the past that the missile "will make those trying to threaten Russia think twice."
In 2022, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, included Romania on the list of Russia's enemies threatened with Sarmat missiles.
"That's why it's good that we have Sarmat. We won't ask anyone's permission when they fly towards the cowardly Bulgarians, the spiteful Romanians, and the Montenegrins who betrayed our common history. Or towards many other countries, such as Sweden," Rogozin wrote on Twitter, currently X, according to Novinite.
T.D.