SHOCKING footage shows what appears to be a Russian ballistic missile flipping in midair and crashing back on Earth in a failed test.
The rocket can be seen reaching some 200-400meters before failing midair, resulting in a massive explosion after the crash.
It is believed the failed test occurred at the Yasny launch site, which is said to be a base for the Russian Strategic Missile Forces.
The launch pad is one of 11 sites in Russia from that can carry out ground-based long-range missile launches, including those equipped with nuclear warheads.
The base is believed to be equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, one of Russia’s most advanced nuclear delivery systems.
Images posted to social media channels show a thick purple-tinged cloud of smoke rising after the test missile crashed on Earth.
Leading defence outlet Defence Express reported that the colour signifies the highly toxic propellants used in certain Soviet-designed missile systems.
It said: “Such a color is inherent only to missiles that use rather toxic fuel — nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, better known as ‘amyl’ and ‘heptyl’.”
Such chemicals are used in heavy liquid fuel for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), including the Russian R-36M2 missile, known as Satan and the RS-28 Sarmat, one of Russia’s leading strategic deterrents.
Meanwhile, a crack team of techies known as Night Watch are jamming signals on the Russian weapons using a parody of a Kremlin propaganda tune.
The group claims to have brought down 19 Kinzhal missiles – described by Putin himself as “invincible” – in the past two weeks.
The team told tech website 404 Media they are using the song and a redirection command to send the missiles – which go at five times the speed of sound – crashing down into empty fields.
The “next-generation” missiles carry a whopping 480kg payload and cost around £7.7m each.
They are one of Russia‘s top weapons and until recently were very effective at evading interception efforts.
In August, they were being downed at a rate of 37 per cent, but after some modifications just six per cent were being stopped by September.
Now, however, using a technique known as “spoofing”, Ukraine is once again getting the better of the weapons.
Kinzhals and other guided weapons use Russia‘s GPS-style network of satellites to find their targets.
Night Watch has developed its own “Lima” jamming system that replaces the missiles’ navigation signals with the Ukrainian song “Our Father is Bandera”.
This was chosen as a dig at Russian propaganda, which likes to suggest all Ukrainians are supporters of the 20th-century Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.
When the song begins, the system feeds the incoming missiles a false navigation signal, tricking them into believing that they are flying over Lima, in Peru, so that they try to change their trajectory.
Travelling at a speed of more than 4,000mph, the missiles are destabilised by the sudden change of course.
Night Watch said they designed the system after finding out that Kinzhals’ defence against jamming and spoofing relied on outdated technology.
Putin described the Kinzhal, which has a range of up to 2,000km, as “invincible” and “an ideal weapon” in 2018.