Back in August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky boasted that his military no longer needed US ‘permission’ to conduct long-range strikes on Russian territory with missiles. This was given that Ukraine had been developing its own domestic designed and produced long-range missile. Zelensky at the time unveiled the ‘Flamingo’ cruise missile.
On Thursday Zelensky has announced a successful test the Flamingo, which can also be described a drone-missile capable of strike as as far as 3,000km (or over 1,860 miles) away.
Ukrainian media has touted that it is capable of delivering a nuclear tip, and that it can carry a warhead almost three times bigger than the US Tomahawk, however it is said to be less accurate in its targeting.
According to new details on the weapon by Ukrainian media:
The first test weapons have already been fired in combat.
According to Kyiv official statements, the missiles will soon be in mass production, and by mid-2026, Ukraine will have amassed a stockpile of weapons capable of hitting practically anything within 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) inside Russia with a half-ton conventional explosive warhead.
The replacement for the Kh-55 cruise missiles given up by Ukraine in the 1990s (Russia actually even fired a few back at Ukraine in 2022), per statements by Ukrainian President Zelensky and his staff, is called the Flamingo missile. (During development, the paint on a test copy reportedly accidentally turned pink. The paint issue was addressed, but the nickname stuck.)
Notably, this kind of range easily brings the Moscow area within striking distance. If Kiev decides to target the Russian capital with cruise missiles – this would likely cause Putin order that Kiev get pounded even harder.
Throughout well over three years of grinding war, the Russian military has still not directly targeted top-level government buildings in Kiev, or military and intelligence HQs there. That could all soon change.
The White House wants to see some kind of peace deal take effect before things escalate to that point – but the process is in shambles especially given Trump has this week pulled the trigger on new sanctions targeting Russian oil – and it remains that neither warring side appears in the mood for compromise. And given Russia has the clear battlefield momentum, it has little reason to back off Putin’s maximal conditions, and the goals of his ‘special military operation’.
Loading recommendations…
