Putin issues chilling warning to Britain - Satan II hypersonic missile which can carry 10 nuclear warheads 'nearly ready'

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to do anything necessary to win the war in Ukraine as he made a television appearance warning that the new “Satan II” would be ready soon.

The hypersonic missile is thought to be able to carry up to 10 nuclear warheads at five times the speed of sound.

The Samrat missile has a range of 12,000 miles - within easy range of Britain - and will be added to Russia’s military artillery next year.

The televised end of year meeting with Moscow’s military chiefs saw Putin insist that money would not be a barrier to developing the latest weaponry.

Putin hailed Russian soldiers as “heroes” but gave little information away about his latest strategy as the Ukraine invasion continues.

But he claimed the "combat readiness of the country’s nuclear forces must be assured" in the wake of comments from close confidante Sergey Markov that UK cities could be a serious nuclear target.

Putin directly criticised NATO in the broadcast, saying western leaders were prolonging the conflict by supplying military aid to Ukraine.

He said: "What is happening is of course a tragedy, our common tragedy, but it is not a result of our policy."

Putin instead laid the blame with what he called “third” countries such as the UK, “who have always striven for this, the disintegration of the Russian world... to a certain extent they succeeded, and pushed us to the line where we are now.”

It comes just days after another Kremlin propagandist, Vladimir Solovyov, issued a direct nuclear threat against Britain live on Russian TV.

Solovyov - a close ally of President Putin - said the UK must be "annihilated militarily" in a single nuclear strike, claiming that Russia must act so "there is no Great Britain" to end London's diplomatic and military support for Ukraine.

The latest threats to the West come after President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his first foreign wartime visit to the US.

The United States has sent about $50 billion in assistance to Kyiv as Zelenskyy told the US Congress on Wednesday that aid to Ukraine is an investment in democracy, not charity.

The ongoing war, which is Europe's biggest land conflict since 1945, has killed tens of thousands, drove millions from their homes and has reduced cities to ruins.