Russian officials discussed the possibility of launching a strike against Ukraine using a Soyuz launch vehicle with a large amount of explosives on board. In this way, they allegedly wanted to impress russian dictator vladimir putin.
This was reported by the German publication BILD.
The publication claims that it has more than seven minutes of recordings of conversations between the former head of the Roscosmos corporation Dmitry Rogozin and the current head of the Progress rocket center Dmitry Baranov.
In these recordings, Rogozin and Baranov discuss the possibility of modifying the Soyuz launch vehicle in such a way that after launch it does not reach orbit, but falls on the territory of Ukraine.
According to them, the launch of the carrier rocket should be carried out not from the Vostochny cosmodrome, but from the cosmodrome in Plesetsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast.
Launching the Soyuz from this cosmodrome would allow placing up to 10 tons of explosives on the launch vehicle.
"From the east it would be 7.5 tons, from the north - 10 tons. Well, you can subtract one ton for safety, so it's 6.5 and 9 tons," Baranov says on the recording.
The publication claims that on the recordings, Rogozin and Baranov discuss the main problem of using the Soyuz launch vehicle as a projectile to strike Ukraine.
According to them, any explosives placed on board of Soyuz will be destroyed under the influence of high temperatures during the entry into the atmosphere.
"This is a supersonic entry into the atmosphere, and the existing FAB-500 heavy aerial bombs do not work, they begin to overheat, their TNT breaks down, and therefore the power drops critically. Our guided bombs are not designed for this either, they have no protection against overheating," Baranov explains again to Rogozin.
At the same time, Rogozin says that he intends to turn to Yuri Solomonov, who 30 years ago headed the group of developers of the intercontinental ballistic missile Topol-M.
In the conversation, Rogozin and Baranov also discuss the danger that a launch vehicle with explosives could fall somewhere on the territory of russia on the way to Ukraine.
The publication writes that a few days after this conversation, Solomonov found a solution to the heat problem.
Rogozin and Baranov had to present this whole developed plan to russian dictator putin.
It is noted that the recordings of the conversations, which were at the disposal of the publication, start from the beginning of January 2023.
It is not known how putin reacted to Rogozin’s and Baranov's proposal, nor is it clear whether he approved this proposal.
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