Vladimir Putin tests ‘Satan II’ – a nuclear missile with a dozen warheads that can hit ‘anywhere in world’

Vladimir Putin on Wednesday night boasted that he had unleashed the first successful test of a new nuclear missile known as “Satan II”, which carries a dozen warheads and could be used to strike enemies around the world.

The “superheavy” 200-tonne intercontinental ballistic missile was a “present to Nato”, according to the Kremlin, and would make Moscow’s enemies “think twice”.

Putin’s sabre-rattling came at a moment of extreme geopolitical tension, coinciding with the first days of the next phase of Russia’s eight-week old war in Ukraine as its troops began their assault on the eastern Donbas region.

On Wednesday night, Boris Johnson said it was hard to see how Ukraine could negotiate with Putin at this point in the conflict, adding: “How can you negotiate with a crocodile when it’s got your leg in its jaws?”

The new missile, officially known as Sarmat, was launched from a silo in Plesetsk, in Russia’s northwest, and delivered training warheads to a test range 6,000km away in the Kamchatka peninsula.