The Russians have developed the most sophisticated nuclear missile in the history of the world by a very wide margin, and it is specifically designed to be used in a future nuclear war with the United States. The RS-28 Sarmat is an intercontinental ballistic missile that has a maximum speed of approximately 15,500 miles per hour. It is 116 feet tall, and that makes it roughly as tall as a ten story building. It can carry up to 10 metric tons of thermonuclear warheads, and those warheads can destroy an area the size of the state of Texas. We have no defenses against the Sarmat, and so once it is launched we will get hit. It is an incredibly terrifying weapon, and many believe that it is only a matter of time before it actually gets used.

The Sarmat is the crown jewel of Vladimir Putin's very long campaign to modernize Russia's strategic nuclear arsenal…

Since coming to power in 2000, Putin has overseen efforts to upgrade the Soviet-built components of the Russian nuclear triad — deploying hundreds of new, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, commissioning new nuclear submarines and modernizing nuclear-capable bombers.

The United States doesn't have anything like the Sarmat.

Neither does anyone else.

It has a maximum range of more than 21,000 miles, and it can carry up to 16 independently targetable nuclear warheads…

The Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile has an expected range over 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) and can reportedly carry up to 16 independently targeted nuclear warheads, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a US-based nonprofit. Putin claims the range extends to more than 35,000 kilometers (21,750 miles).

Let me try to put this into language that anyone can understand.

This missile has enough range to reach any target on the entire planet.

So there is nowhere that is out of reach.

A single Sarmat can release 16 independently-targetable nuclear warheads.

That means that one missile goes up, and 16 warheads come down.

And each one of those warheads can instantly destroy an entire major city.

Russia plans to eventually produce more than 40 of these ICBMs.