Putin puts ‘Satan II’ nuclear missile ‘on combat duty’ as Kyiv launches drone strikes

Russia has said that Moscow’s RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), nicknamed “Satan II” – capable of carrying ten or more nuclear warheads – has been rolled out on “combat duty”.

The head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said that the missiles had entered active duty, the state-run news agency RIA reported. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Sarmat missiles would be deployed for combat duty “soon”.

Prior to that, defence committee deputy chairman Aleksey Zhuravlyov had used it as a threat when he was interviewed by state broadcaster TV Russia 1 in May regarding Sweden and Finland’s aspirations towards joining Nato in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland joined the alliance earlier this year, while Sweden is still waiting to be ratified.

One man was killed in Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Friday and three people were wounded in a missile attack in the central region of Vinnytsia overnight, Ukrainian authorities said.

The 34-year-old man was hit in a residential area of Kherson close to 12:50 p.m. local time (0950 GMT), the military administration there said.

The three civilians were wounded when a Russian missile struck a business in Vinnytsia region, the regional governor said.

“They are being provided with all necessary assistance,” Serhiy Borzov wrote on the Telegram messaging service.

Ukraine‘s air force said it shot down a second missile fired overnight. The missile was downed over the central Kirovohrad region, the local governor said on Telegram.

The head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Friday that the country’s Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying ten or more nuclear warheads, had been put on combat duty, state news agency RIA reported.

It has been nicknamed Satan II.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Sarmat missiles would be deployed for combat duty “soon”.

The head of Russia‘s space agency Roscosmos said on Friday that the country’s Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying ten or more nuclear warheads, had been put on combat duty, state news agency RIA reported.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Sarmat missiles would be deployed for combat duty “soon”.

The UK defence ministry said Moscow is employing a range of underwater defence systems to prevent attacks following the Crimea Bridge explosion.

The ministry said: “As of 29 August, imagery confirms Russia has created an underwater barrier of submerged ships and containment booms to deter against Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV) attacks against the Crimean Bridge.”

Samuel Newey, 22, from Solihull in the West Midlands, was “killed in action” on Wednesday in eastern Ukraine, his brother, Daniel Newey, said in a social media post.

He wrote on Facebook: “I cannot put into words how broken I feel.”

Russian forces struck a private enterprise with a long-range cruise missile in the central Ukrainian region of Vinnytsia, wounding three people, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday.

“Unfortunately, there are victims – three civilians, they are being provided with all necessary assistance,” Governor Serhiy Borzov wrote on Telegram messenger, adding that unspecified property and cars had been damaged.

Kyiv’s air force said it shot down a second missile fired as part of the overnight attack. The missile was downed over the central Kirovohrad region, the local governor said on Telegram.

Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, conducts regular air strikes on Ukrainian centres far from the front line. Moscow says its strikes are only intended to degrade Ukraine‘s ability to fight.

The two missiles reported by Ukrainian officials contrasted with earlier in the week when Ukraine reported the largest Russian missile and drone attack on the capital for months.

The massive drone attack across multiple regions of Russia into Wednesday marked Ukraine‘s largest attack on Russian soil since the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion 18 months ago.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said it is one of 25 such attacks on Russia during August as Kyiv increases its attempts to “bring the war home” to Russia and destroy equipment that would be used on the frontline in Ukraine.

The MoD believes that Russian air defences are likely having difficulty detecting and destroying the drones, given the number of drones hitting their targets.

For Ukraine, their own mission to down drones coming from Russia, a constant menace throughout the war, is being added by the US-made ‘Vampire’ rocket system.

Ukraine’s forces have pushed back Russian troops in areas of the country’s south and east as Kyiv pushes on with its counteroffensive – with President Volodymyr Zelensky also claiming that his country has developed a new long-range weapon.

The pronouncement by Mr Zelensky that the unnamed weapon reached a target more than 700km (400 miles) away comes a day after a wave of airstrikes across six regions in Russia. Those strikes included an assault that caused a huge fire at a military airbase in Pskov in northern Russia, damaging several giant military transport planes. That airbase is roughly 700km from the Ukrainian border.

Mr Zelensky’s remarks are almost certainly part of the information war with Russia over Moscow’s 18-month invasion, although he did not give details on the new weapon other than the fact it was produced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries. But it is certainly the clearest suggestion that Kyiv was behind the attack.