Ukraine says its homegrown Flamingo missiles flew nearly 900 miles to strike an Iskander factory deep inside Russia

• Ukraine announced last week that it used new Flamingo missiles to hit a factory deep in Russia.

• Zelenskyy now says domestically produced missiles fly almost 900 miles to hit the target.

• The Ukrainian president said that all missiles were able to withstand Russian air defenses.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that his country hit a Russian military industrial facility with locally made cruise missiles that flew nearly 900 miles to reach their targets.

Ukrainian officials had previously reported that Saturday’s missile strike hit a factory in Votkinsk, an industrial city in Russia’s Udmurt Republic, about 860 miles from the Ukrainian border.

“We carried out precision attacks with Flamingo missiles from a distance of 1,400 kilometers,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference in Kiev. he said. “I truly believe this is a success for our industry.”

Such an attack would be one of the longest range attacks ever carried out. FlamingoReferred to as one of the star products in Ukraine’s domestic defense manufacturing scene. Kiev is aggressively seeking to expand its arms industry as a complement to Western supplies and as a future export sector.

The Votkinsk factory, the target of the flamingos, produces some of Russia’s key ammunition, such as ballistic missiles. Alexander system and the submarine-launched Bulava missile.

Russia has not officially confirmed that the factory was hit, but Udmurt Republic Governor Alexander Brechalov said on Saturday that an unspecified facility in the region was attacked and three people were sent to hospital.

Brechalov did not say whether Flamingo was used, but warned against drone threats to the region.

Ukrainian open source groups later released satellite images showing damage to one of the workshops at the Votkinsk plant, with a gaping hole in its roof and signs of fire damage.

That evening, Kiev had unleashed a massive wave of drones and missiles on Russia in one of its biggest attacks yet. long range attacks.

Russia’s defense ministry announced Saturday that 77 Ukrainian drones were shot down, but did not mention Ukraine’s missile threat.

Zelenskyy declined to say how many missiles or drones Ukraine launched in total on Saturday.

“There were interventions by Russian air defense, “There were also missiles that were not intercepted and there were direct hits,” Zelenskyy said, “But the most important thing is that all the missiles launched reached the target.”

Kyiv often sees Flamingo USA made TomahawkHe says Ukraine’s turbofan-powered missile is much cheaper to produce per unit and has a longer range of 3,900 miles.

However, Flamingo, launched from the ground, takes about 40 minutes to prepare for launch.

Ukraine is also still trying to build up its missile arsenal; According to reports last October, its manufacturer, FirePoint, hopes to produce seven missiles a day by the end of 2025.

Kiev announced earlier this month that production was affected by Russia’s recent strike, and Zelenskyy warned that Ukraine should “work to increase the quantity” of Flamingo.

Zelenskyy said at the time: “We had some technical problems because a large production line was destroyed as a result of the missile attack. They have already relocated and restarted production.”

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