Prominent Ukrainian scientist says nuclear weapons may soon be a thing of the past

"There are conditions under which, thanks to advanced technologies, nuclear weapons will become obsolete, and the nuclear era will fade into history. These conditions are linked to the development of modern long-range interception technologies—those that preemptively target nuclear warheads, making the threat of their use as dangerous to the country possessing them as to the nation being attacked," Horbulin said.

According to the vice president of Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences, progress is already being made toward creating such technology, offering hope for the eventual neutralization of the nuclear threat.

He also pointed to a recent event that could signal this shift: "The symbolic, perhaps even epochal, self-destruction of Putin's favorite toy—the Sarmat missile."

Russia’s failed test of the RS-28 Sarmat missile

On Sept. 22, OSINT analyst MeNMyRC reported that Russia had conducted a test of its RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental missile at the Plesetsk test site, which ended in "complete failure." The analyst also posted photos of the incident.

According to the report, the missile exploded in its silo, leaving a massive crater and destroying the testing site.

On Sept. 23, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) highlighted that the failure of Russia’s latest missile test points to the challenges facing Russian missile developers amid the ongoing war that the Kremlin has waged against Ukraine.

That same day, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed that the Kremlin had no information regarding the failed RS-28 Sarmat test.