Russia will deploy its new Sarmat strategic nuclear missile at the end of this year, President Vladimir Putin ​said on Tuesday, describing it as “the most powerful in the ‌world”.

The planned deployment of the missile - designed to deliver nuclear warheads to strike targets thousands of miles away in the United States or Europe - follows ​years of setbacks and delays.

Putin, in televised comments, said ​the yield of the warhead was more than four times ⁠greater than any Western equivalent, and its range exceeded 35,000 ​km (21,750 miles).

“It has the ability to penetrate all existing and future ​anti-missile defence systems,” he said.

Western security analysts say Putin has made exaggerated claims for the capabilities of some of Russia’s new generation of nuclear weapons, part ​of a modernisation programme he first announced in 2018.

Sarmat has seen ​failures in the past - one test in September 2024 left a deep crater ‌at ⁠the launch silo, according to Western experts.

State TV showed Sergei Karakayev, commander of Russia’s strategic missile forces, reporting to Putin on what he said was a successful Sarmat test-launch on Tuesday.

“The deployment of ​launchers equipped with ​the Sarmat missile ⁠system will significantly enhance the combat capabilities of the ground-based strategic nuclear forces in terms of ​guaranteeing the destruction of targets and solving strategic deterrence ​problems,” ⁠Karakayev said.

Since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, Putin has repeatedly reminded the world of the size and power of Russia’s nuclear ⁠arsenal in ​statements seen by the West as ​attempts to deter it from intervening too strongly on the side of Ukraine.