Dmitry Rogozin, a pro-Putin senator, said an attack on the radar site could enable a nuclear strike and spark World War III, after Ukraine launched kamikaze drone attacks.
A friend of President Vladimir Putin has warned that “military mania” could spark World War III following reports of drone attacks in Russia.
Dmitry Rogozin, 60, a former head of the Russian Space Agency, said the latest developments could mean nuclear war is imminent. The photos, taken after an alleged Ukrainian drone attack, show the destruction of an early warning station by Ukraine.
A fire broke out at the Voronezh DM radar station near Armavir in the Krasnodar region. The Russians claim that these facilities are a vital part of the battle command system for Moscow’s strategic nuclear forces. Such a station would cost around £13.15 million to build and have a radar range of 3,750 miles.
Rogozin, the pro-Putin senator, claimed without evidence that the US had advance knowledge of the attack on the radar site. “We can assume that this was carried out either on Kiev’s own initiative or on the orders of military nutjobs in the Ukrainian army who want to start World War III,” he said.
“However, given Washington’s deep involvement in this armed conflict and the US’s complete control over Kiev’s military planning, we can discard the theory that the US is unaware of Ukraine’s plans to attack Russian missile defense systems.
“Washington will have to take full responsibility for the past and future crimes of the distraught Ukrainian leadership,” he argued. After the attack, he argued, “we are not just on the threshold, we are already on the brink, beyond which, if such actions by the enemy are not stopped, the irreversible collapse of the strategic security of a nuclear-armed state will begin.”
Rogozin, who as head of the Russian Space Agency played a key role in testing the country’s soon-to-be most powerful weapon, the Satan-2 (also known as Sarmat) rocket, said: “Washington has ordered the crime of hiring irresponsible thieves seeking to destroy a missile attack warning system facility – a key element of the strategic nuclear forces battle command system.”
The pro-war Telegram channel Military Informant reported: “The enemy has launched a direct attack on one element of Russia’s nuclear security. A natural question arises as to whether there will be at least some concrete response to such an attack, or whether it will be possible to continue attacking long-range radars with impunity, while blinding the monitoring sector of the country’s missile and space defenses.”
Ukraine is believed to have attacked the facility because it could provide early warning to the occupied Crimean peninsula. Its main monitoring areas are believed to be the Balkans and the Mediterranean. The facility is one of 10 radar stations in Russia and repairs could take 18 months. Putin replaced former deputy prime minister Rogozin as head of the space agency and last year approved him as a senator for his United Russia party.
Sarmat is the largest missile in Putin’s nuclear arsenal, described as an “unstoppable” doomsday weapon with a speed of 15,880 mph launched from a 208-ton intercontinental silo – the size of a 14-story skyscraper – and will be tested over Antarctica before being officially deployed.