Ukraine war: Russia’s space agency chief issues fresh nuclear threat to the West

The chief of Russia’s space agency has warned that the country will soon have 50 fresh new nuclear missiles capable of converting all foes to a nuclear crater.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos and a close Putin friend, claimed dozens of new Sarmat-2 missiles, which stand 14 stories tall and weigh 208 tons, will be deployed by autumn to threaten Russia’s adversaries.

‘All that is left is to advise the aggressors to speak to Russia more gently,’ he said.

As a demonstration of Sarmat’s power, he showed off footage of a 26ft deep and 66ft wide hole caused by one of the missiles when fired without a warhead.

He said: ‘With a nuclear charge, such a crater at an enemy site will be…well, very large and very deep – and radioactive.

‘And not just one, but exactly as many as the most powerful nuclear missile in the world will deliver to the territory of a fierce enemy.

‘And we will soon have almost 50 such Sarmats [the missile is known in the West as Satan-2] on combat duty.

‘It remains only to advise the aggressors to talk more politely with Russia.’

Rogozin, a former deputy prime minister and Putin super-loyalist, has made several recent threats of nuclear strikes against the West involving Satan-2.

For his latest threat, he used footage from Russian TV channel Zvezda, run by the Defence Ministry.

The Satan-2 missile is the height of a 14-storey tower block and weighs 208 tons, say the Russians.

The intercontinental ballistic missile has a range of 11,200 miles and can strike at targets at 15,880mph after flying in outer space or via the north or south poles.