RUSSIA has testfired a nuclear missile just 24 hours after Vladimir Putin made a fiery nuke threat to the West.
Kremlin commanders announced the test firing of a Yars ballistic missile – which can carry nuclear warheads.
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Video released by Russian state media showed the 50,000kg, 75ft weapon being fired from a mobile missile launcher.
It came as Putin swung his nuclear sabre during a rambling 2hr 30min “state of the nation” speech.
The 71-year-old tyrant – who looked sickly and unsteady – threatened Nato not to intervene in Ukraine.
He also bragged about his nuclear arsenal – once again warning he would use the devastating weapons if provoked by the West.
Yars missiles – known to Nato forces as SS-29s – can hit speeds of Mach 25 or nearly 20,000mph.
They can be picked with nuclear warheads up to the strength of 500 kilotons.
And that is nearly 30 times the strength of the bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima to end World War 2.
It can also be armed with multiple warheads to achieve maximum devastation over a wide area.
The missiles can either be fired from silos, trucks or the infamous “nuke train” – which hurtles around Russia.
Russia is estimated to have more than 150 Yars missiles in service – and they have nearly 6,000 nuclear warheads.
In a statement, the Russian military said: “At the Plesetsk State Test Cosmodrome, crews from the Yoshkar-Ola Missile Force conducted a combat training launch of a mobile-based solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile PGRK Yars, equipped with a multiple warhead.
“The training warheads arrived at the designated area at the Kura training ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
“The purpose of the launch was confirmation of the tactical, technical and flight characteristics of the modern missile system.
“All assigned tasks were completed in full.”
On Thursday Putin delivered his rambling annual address to a glazed audience of Russian elites.
Surrounded by lawmakers and top officials he raged at the West and said Nato forces were “preparing to strike [Russian] territory”.
The deranged despot then insisted that the consequences would be “tragic” and brandished about the threat of his nuclear rocket Sarmat – known as Satan-2.
Putin also boasted about how Russia has weapons which “could defeat them [the West] on their own territory” .
He said: “Strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness for guaranteed use.”
Power-mad Vlad crowed how Moscow had used advanced weapons systems, including Zircon hypersonic missiles, in battle.
Putin’s nuclear threats
BELOW is a timeline of some of the thinly veiled, and more cutthroat threats Vladimir Putin has made against the West with his nuclear arsenal since invading Ukraine two years ago.
Feb 24 2022 – Vladimir Putin: “No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.”
March 26 2022 – Putin crony Dmitry Medvedev: “We have a special document on nuclear deterrence. This document clearly indicates the grounds on which the Russian Federation is entitled to use nuclear weapons. … [This includes] when an act of aggression is committed against Russia and its allies.”
April 20 2022 – Vladimir Putin: “[The new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads] will force all who are trying to threaten our country in the heat of frenzied, aggressive rhetoric to think twice.”
Feb 29 2024 – Vladimir Putin: “They must understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory… All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they get that?”
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