Russian state channel Zvezda aired footage from the Russian Defense Ministry showing the country’s forces loading a hypersonic nuclear missile onto a launch pad, a video of the moment quickly going viral on social media.
The images have once again brought to light fears about the scale of nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.
Latest: Russia deploys nuclear-capable hypersonic missile system
Russia’s rocket forces have loaded a nuclear-capable “Avangard” hypersonic glide vehicle-mounted ICBM into a launch pad silo in southern Russia, the Defense Ministry said.
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According to Reuters, on Thursday the nuclear-capable ‘Avanguard’ intercontinental ballistic missile was placed in a silo and then slowly lifted vertically and then moved to a well in the Orenburg region of southern Russia.
The ‘Avanguard’ was unveiled by Putin in 2018, with the Russian president referring to the equipment as a “next-generation weapon”, developed in response to weapons developments carried out by the US and China.
This missile is capable of covering a distance of 6,000 kilometers at a speed of 27 times the speed of sound (34,000 kilometers per hour).
“Avanguard is by no means interceptable and a potential anti-missile defense of a potential adversary,” Putin insisted when presenting the missile in question.
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