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All Ukraine Yermolaivka Museum of Strategic Missile Troops

Museum of Strategic Missile Troops

Last remaining nuclear missile base in Ukraine.

Yermolaivka, Ukraine

Added By
Northernskies
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The front gate to the missile base.   nbj914 / Atlas Obscura User
  nbj914 / Atlas Obscura User
  nbj914 / Atlas Obscura User
SS18-SATAN misile   PeterKongstad / Atlas Obscura User
You are alowwed to touch the things displayed   PeterKongstad / Atlas Obscura User
Walkway underground to the controlCenter   PeterKongstad / Atlas Obscura User
The guide who worked here for a numorous years   PeterKongstad / Atlas Obscura User
Displayed misile at the base   PeterKongstad / Atlas Obscura User
One of the misiles from Cuba (!)   PeterKongstad / Atlas Obscura User
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About

When Ukraine became a nuclear-weapon-free state and all its many nuclear silos and bases had been dismantled - this command post and launch bunker was retained as a museum. It's staffed by former troops from the 46th Division of the 43rd Rocket Army ("Nizhniodniprovskaya Order of the October Revolution, Red Banner") who served at the base.

When you arrive at the museum there is an introductory video and then a tour of the ground level command post, which has been turned into an exhibition and display area. On the grounds of the base are an array of missiles, launchers, fueling vehicles, and assorted military bric-a-brac.

Among the dead nukes on the site is an SS 18 "Satan" missile. The Saran is a real doomsday machine, capable of carrying ten warheads of 750 kilotons each (the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima was 15KT, for comparison). The SS-18 was never stationed at the base, however. The silos controlled from this base housed medium-range nuclear weapons capable of destroying a fair chunk of central Europe.

The highlight of the tour is a trip down into the command bunker itself in a tiny lift that grinds its way down the thirty-meter, twelve-story blast-resistant tube to the bunker where the two-man launch crew was based. The decommissioned launch room is much as it was back when it was still operational, with its chunky panels and screens. You can sit in the commander's seat - and you can press the launch button. The guides don't speak English, so if you don't speak Russian or Ukrainian you are missing out on a lot of the background information.

Related Tags

Nuclear Architectural Oddities Subterranean Sites Architecture

Know Before You Go

The museum is 30 kilometers north of Pervomaysk or an hour's taxi ride from Uman (just off the main Kyiv to Odesa highway).

Community Contributors

Added By

Northernskies

Edited By

Vagabond, Blindcolour, nbj914, PeterKongstad

  • Vagabond
  • Blindcolour
  • nbj914
  • PeterKongstad

Published

January 3, 2011

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  • Picasa Web Albums: Pressing the button - The Last Ukranian Nuclear Missile Base: http://picasaweb.google.com/Northern.cosmonaut/PressingTheButtonTheLastUkranianNuclearMissileBase#
Museum of Strategic Missile Troops
Kirovogradska Oblast
Golovanisky District
Yermolaivka
Ukraine
48.169749, 30.694885
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Ukraine

Europe

Places 69
Stories 22

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Ukraine

Ukraine

Europe

Places 69
Stories 22

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