Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky laughed off Russia’s claim that it now has powerful lasers to burn drones comparing it to Nazi propaganda

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has laughed off Russia’s claims that it now uses powerful lasers to burn drones by comparing it to Nazi propaganda about a new weapon during World War II.

Zelensky compared the news of the lasers to the so-called miracle weapons that Nazi Germany unveiled in an effort to prevent defeat.

“The clearer it became that they had no chance in the war, the more propaganda there was about an incredible weapon that would be so powerful it would provide a turning point,” he said in a statement. late night video address.

“And so we see that in the third month of a full-scale war, Russia is trying to find its ‘wonderful weapon’… all of this clearly shows the complete failure of the mission.”

Vladimir Putin had unveiled an intercontinental ballistic missile, underwater nuclear drones, a supersonic weapon and a laser weapon in 2018.

Little is known about the specifics of the new laser Russia had in Ukraine after announcing on Wednesday that it was using a new generation of powerful lasers.

Putin had mentioned one called Peresvet, named after a medieval Orthodox warrior monk Alexander Peresvet who perished in mortal combat.

Yury Borisov, the deputy prime minister for military development, told a conference in Moscow that Peresvet was already widely deployed and could blind satellites up to 1,500 km above Earth.

But he also said there are already more powerful systems than Peresvet that could burn drones and other equipment.

And he cited a test on Tuesday which he said burned a drone 5km away in five seconds.

“If Peresvet goes blind, then the new generation of laser weapons leads to physical destruction of the target – thermal destruction, they burn,” he told Russian state television.

When asked if such weapons were used in Ukraine, Borisov replied: “Yes. The first prototypes are already in use there.”

He said the gun was called “Zadira”.

Almost nothing is publicly known about Zadira, but in 2017 Russian media reported that state nuclear company Rosatom had helped develop it as part of a program to create new physical principles based on the weapons.

The invasion of Ukraine illustrated the limits of Russia’s post-Soviet conventional armed forces, even though Putin says the “special military operation” is going to be planned.

Using lasers to blind satellites was once a science fiction fantasy, but the United States, China and Russia have been working on variants of these weapons for years.

Besides the benefit of burning the drones, blinding reconnaissance systems also have a strategic impact, as satellites are used to monitor intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear weapons.

Borisov said he had just returned from Sarov, which is a Russian nuclear weapons research center. He said a new generation of laser weapons using a broad electromagnetic band would eventually replace conventional weapons.

“It’s not some kind of exotic idea, it’s reality,” Borisov said.