Moscow and St Petersburg are well within reach of Kyiv’s new homegrown cruise missile
Ukraine is set to mass produce a new cruise missile capable of striking targets thousands of miles into Russian territory, including arms depots, oil refineries and other critical infrastructure.
The cruise missile, dubbed “Flamingo”, has a reported range of 3,000km (1,860 miles), according to Ukraine, meaning it could strike anywhere in central Russia, reaching Moscow with ease and even parts of western Siberia.
It was developed in secret locations by Ukraine’s Fire Point defence company, which said the missile was capable of carrying a 1,150kg warhead and was able to land within 14 metres of its intended target.
Volodymyr Zelensky said the Flamingo had been tested and proved to be “the most successful” missile in Ukraine’s arsenal.
“By December, we’ll have more of them. And by the end of December or in January-February, mass production should begin,” the Ukrainian president added.
The remarks come after Donald Trump indicated he would be open to Ukraine hitting back at Russia, after Moscow disrupted efforts one again this week to bring about negotiations to reach a ceasefire deal after the US President’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week.
In a social media post on Thursday, the Trump said: “It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense.” He added: “Interesting times ahead!!!”
Why Flamingo matters
Sidharth Kaushal, senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) think-tank, told The i Paper that Flamingo “is longer-ranged and carries a heavier payload than any which Ukraine has used thus far”.
This makes the weapon “potentially useful against larger more resilient structures associated with defence industrial production, which also happen to be deeper within Russia.
“The missile could support Ukrainian efforts to disrupt the production of capabilities which Russia is producing in large enough quantities to saturate Ukrainian defences.”
Dr Kaushal pointed to the Yelabuga facility in the Republic of Tatarstan, where variants of Iranian Shahed-136 drones are produced, as an example of a site that would be within range of the Flamingo.
Domestic long-range missile production could become key to Ukraine’s fight against Russia after its enormous success with its long-range drones. Developing its own weapons allows Ukraine to circumvent restrictions imposed by Western countries on use of their long-range weapons, such as Storm Shadow missiles, which prevent them being used to strike targets deep inside Russia.
The restriction was reportedly lifted partially by the US and UK in November 2024 – more than two years since Russia began striking targets across all of Ukraine as part of its invasion. However, use of Western missiles appears to have been limited to border regions including Kursk.
Arsen Zhumadilov, the head of Ukraine’s arms procurement agency, said this week: “We believe our best guarantee is not relying on somebody’s will to protect us, but rather our ability to protect ourselves.”
In November 2024, Zelensky hailed Ukraine’s production of its first 100 missiles. By April, over 40 per cent of weapons used by Ukraine’s troops were produced domestically, according to the Ukrainian president.
Ukraine’s defence ministry also said in April that more than 95 per cent of the drones used by Ukraine on the battlefield were being produced domestically,
Ukraine has largely relied on its Neptune anti-ship missile throughout the war so far, with the projectile most notably used to sink the Russian cruiser Moskva in 2022. Since then upgrades have been added to Neptune missiles, with other variants produced including specific adaptations for land attacks.
The Hrim-2 tactical ballistic missile has also been deployed across ranges of up to 300 miles (around 500km).
The Associated Press, which was granted exclusive access to the Flamingo’s production facility, reported that initial versions of the missile came out pink after a factory error, earning it the name Flamingo. The name has stuck ever since.
Fire Point is producing roughly one Flamingo per day, staff at the plant told the news agency, adding that they hoped to have the capacity to make seven per day by October.
Is Flamingo a game-changer?
Dr Kaushal said Russia’s air defence network was well set up to intercept cruise missiles, such as the US-made Tomahawk, whose range spans between 1,600-2,500km (990-1550 miles).
He said Russia’s surface-to-air missile systems such as the S-300 and S-400 “as well as interceptor aircraft like the MiG-31BM played an important role here”.
“However, while the Russian IADS [integrated air defence system] is formidable, no system is impregnable as occasional Ukrainian successes with drone strikes have proven.”
The remarks were backed by Dr Rod Thornton, an expert on Russian military, who said: “Any missile can circumvent Russian missile defences because these might be described as inefficient.”
However, Dr Thornton, a reader in Russian Defence and Security Studies at King’s College London, said the Flamingo’s large size and long travel range could make it susceptible to detection.
He said: “It would help if the missile’s approach was masked by loads of other drones operating alongside it – but no drone would have the range of this missile, so it would end up on its own.
“It is a big, high-flying missile so would show up easily on radar – which does make it more vulnerable to being detected or shot down.
“Its sheer range means the chances of it being detected are high – it will be travelling over Russian airspace for a long time. This Flamingo may be carrying [electronic warfare] jamming devices that could counter any Russian missiles fired at it. But the effectiveness of these [electronic warfare] defences would be difficult to establish.”
Asked whether the missile can be a game-changer, Dr Thornton said it “isn’t going to change the war at all”.
He explained that “these missiles can only be fired at military targets in Russia, otherwise Nato countries would not allow their use.
“If they are fired at military sites within Russian cities … there is always the danger of them going astray and killing lots of civilians.
“That just leaves military bases as targets and just destroying a few planes or tanks inside Russia is not going to change the war. Plus the more these missiles are used the better the Russians will get at intercepting them.
“These missiles might provide some operational benefit but strategically they aren’t going to make much of a difference,” he added, saying “the only real strategic difference could come if these missiles were used to target Russian energy infrastructure”.
“But Nato might have an issue if too many civilians are killed in such attacks and any environmental damage caused, such as oil leaks”.
