Vladimir Putin has readied his hypersonic Avangard missile for launch in a fresh nuclear threat to the West.
Footage shows the lethal weapon, which can hit targets at 27 times the speed of sound, being installed in an underground launch silo in the Orenburg region.
The missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle is fired outside the earth’s atmosphere before striking any target in the world in less than 30 minutes, Moscow has claimed.
Like other Russian hypersonic missile systems, Vladimir Putin claims the West has no means to stop it.
Putin has also consecutively shown the deployment of new Yars nuclear missiles in the Kaluga and Tver regions.
The Kremlin revealed Putin had spent all of Friday with his military commanders in discussions over the war in Ukraine.
The day saw the unleashing of dozens of missiles on Ukraine - many of which were successfully shot down by Kyiv’s air defences.
Putin demanded ideas from his commanders including General Sergei Surovikin, who is in overall command of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
The president was accompanied by both defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov, both of whom are rumoured to be sidelined in the war.
Putin said: “Comrade officers, we will hear from the commanders in each operational area today, and I would like to hear your suggestions on our immediate and medium–term actions.”
It is the first time in ten months Putin has shown close involvement in his high command and it is the first known visit by Putin to the joint headquarters of the troops.
Putin has previously claimed the Avangard strikes “like a meteorite” and is “invincible” as well as unstoppable by any defence system.
He has boasted: “The Avangard is invulnerable to intercept by any existing and prospective missile defence means of the potential adversary.”
He called it a “new type of strategic weapon”, first deployed in 2019.
On Friday, Russia fired more than 70 missiles at Ukraine in one of its biggest attacks since the start of the war. This knocked out power in the second-biggest city and forced Kyiv to implement emergency blackouts nationwide, Ukrainian officials said.
Three people were killed when an apartment block was hit in central Kryvyi Rih and another died in shelling in Kherson in the south, they said.
Russian-installed officials in occupied eastern Ukraine said 12 people had died by Ukrainian shelling.
