Russia claims it has successfully tested its Satan-2 missile and will deploy it at the end of the year – with Poseidon tsunami weapon ‘in final stages’

Russia has successfully tested its new Satan-2 intercontinental ballistic missile, strategic missile forces commander Sergei Karakayev told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

Putin said Russia plans to put Satan-2, also known as Sarmat, into combat duty by the end of this year.

The Kremlin also said that work on the ‘Poseidon’ and ‘Burevestnik’ missile systems has reached the final stage.

Russian media reported that Karakayev told the Russian leader that the tests ‘confirmed the missile’s intended performance’.

According to reports, military exercises involving intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICMBs) continued until May 10.

Between 9 and 11 May 2026, a Russian NOTAM reported the launch of an SS-N-23 missile from the Barents Sea to the Kura test range.

To monitor this and a possible simultaneous Sarmat ICBM test, two USAF Cobra Ball aircraft were deployed on an overnight reconnaissance mission.

Two US RC-135S Cobra Ball aircraft, designed to monitor ballistic missile tests, have been active on patrols from Alaska in recent days.

“The positive results of the launch of the Sarmat missile system will allow us to deploy the first missile regiment armed with this missile system for combat duty in the Uzhur formation of Krasnoyarsk Krai by the end of this year,” Karakayev told the president, according to local media reports.

“The deployment of launchers together with the Sarmat missile system will significantly increase the combat capabilities of land-based strategic nuclear forces to reliably destroy targets and fulfill strategic deterrence missions,” he added.

Sarmat is a 208-ton silo-launched ‘doomsday’ rocket the size of a 14-storey building, capable of reaching speeds of 15,880 mph.

The successful launch of the RS-28 Sarmat, reported on Tuesday, is the missile’s first success since the test in April 2022.

In September 2024, the monster hypersonic missile exploded on the launch pad of the Plesetsk cosmodrome, leaving a 200ft wide crater.

Satellite images show the destruction left behind by the explosion at the Plesetsk test site in northern Russia, which partially destroyed an observation building close to the launch site.

According to NASA FIRMS, fires continued for six to twelve hours after the catastrophic incident, and multiple fire trucks were seen in the area where the attack occurred.

Putin-controlled Russian state media were censored from reporting the explosion in Plesetsk or the reason behind it.

And in a November 2025 test launch near Yasny, Orenburg region, a rocket turned upside down immediately after takeoff and crashed, triggering a giant explosion, reported to be Sarmatian, although there is no official confirmation.

Putin’s TV propagandists have previously threatened to use the Satan-2 missile to strike the West.

Earlier this year a hardline Russian MP warned that it was ‘inevitable’ that Russia would attack Britain to wipe it off the face of the earth.

Reserve general and pro-Putin lawmaker Andrey Gurulev insisted the Kremlin would take revenge for Ukraine’s use of British Storm Shadow missiles against his country.

He told Kremlin-controlled state television: ‘There will come a point when we will still attack. This is inevitable.