Vladimir Putin was facing humiliation after his ‘unstoppable’ Satan-2 missile exploded, obliterating Russia’s only test site for the hypersonic weapon.
Satellite images show 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, indicating there may be casualties among rocket scientists.
A giant 200ft wide crater and scorched earth can be seen on the site of the Satan-2 launch shaft.
Experts say the test programme for the rocket – also known as RS-28 Sarmat – may now be delayed for years, or could even be aborted after a series of failed launches.
The monster ‘unstoppable’ hypersonic missile is designed to strike the West by flying over the North or South Poles, making it impossible to strike down by air defences.
A test had been expected flying over the South Pole, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS last year.
Putin has boasted that the apocalypse 208-ton intercontinental silo-launched 15,880mph nuclear weapon, the size of a 14-storey tower block, is ‘unstoppable’ by the West. Satan-2 carries ten nuclear warheads of 750 kilotons each.
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Fires raged for six-to-twelve hours after the catastrophic incident, according to NASA FIRMS, and several fire trucks were seen as the blitzed site.
The Putin-controlled Russian state media has been censored from reporting the explosion at Plesetsk – or the reason behind it.
