Russians tested "Satan": Can wipe out entire cities, carries 15 nuclear warheads

One rocket can carry up to 10 heavier or 15 lighter nuclear warheads. Each of those heads can be independently aimed at a different target (city).

It is estimated that the total power that one rocket can carry is about 50 megatons. For comparison, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a force of about 15 kilotons. This means that one full Sarmat is theoretically more than 3000 times more powerful than a World War II bomb.

BREAKING: Russia just successfully test-launched the Sarmat — its newest heavy ICBM

Putin says it’s the most powerful missile system in the world.

One Sarmat carries a payload 4 times more powerful than any competitor.

The Kremlin claims it will be on combat duty by the end… pic.twitter.com/Xic348gCMI

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 12, 2026

Russia on Tuesday successfully test-fired its newest and reportedly most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Sarmat, the TASS news agency reported.

The Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile can reliably hit targets and carry out strategic deterrence missions, significantly improving Russia’s combat capabilities, TASS reported, citing the commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, Sergei Karakayev, as reported by the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Noting that Russia is developing unique, advanced strategic systems to penetrate all missile defense systems, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Sarmat is the most powerful ICBM system in the world, capable of penetrating all current and future missile defense networks.

Russia will deploy its new Sarmat strategic nuclear missile at the end of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, describing it as “the most powerful in the world”, capable of penetrating all current and future missile defense networks.

The Sarmat, Putin claimed, has a range of more than 35,000 km and a warhead power more than four times that of any Western equivalent. The missile can reportedly carry up to 16 warheads.

The planned deployment of the missile – designed to carry nuclear warheads to strike targets thousands of kilometers away in the United States or Europe – comes after years of stalling and delays.

In a televised address, Putin said the warhead’s power is more than four times that of any Western equivalent, and its range exceeds 35,000 kilometers.

“It has the ability to penetrate all existing and future anti-missile defense systems,” he emphasized.

Western security analysts say Putin has made exaggerated claims about the capabilities of some of Russia’s next-generation nuclear weapons, part of a modernization program he first announced in 2018.

Sarmat, also known as Satan II, has had a history of failures. The September 2024 test left a deep crater on the launch silo, according to Western experts.

State television showed Karakayev briefing Putin on what he said was a successful test launch of the Sarmat on Tuesday.

“The deployment of launchers equipped with the Sarmat missile system will significantly improve the combat capabilities of the ground-based strategic nuclear forces in terms of safely destroying targets and solving the problem of strategic deterrence,” Karakayev said.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, Putin has repeatedly reminded the world of the size and power of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, in statements that the West sees as attempts to deter an overly forceful intervention on the side of Ukraine.

(Vijesti.ba)