Ukraine’s secret weapon: The bright pink ‘Flamingo’ missiles with engines bought from landfill sites that are striking fear into Russia’s generals
A discounted priced cruise missile that includes Engines bought from the dump sites threaten to level the playing field in Ukraine’s war against Putin’s forces.
FP-5 Flamingo missiles allow Zelensky’s men to hit targets deep inside Russian territory for the first time. foreign correspondent Chris Pleasance explains in the last episode Daily Mail’s War on Tape.
The bullet’s distinctive name derives from the fact that: prototypes were painted bright pink to make them easier to retrievee and FP are the initials of the manufacturer’s name Fire Point.
The missile’s power and range are so great that many analysts initially refused to believe they were real.
It is 45 feet long and has a wingspan of 20 feet. Flamingo is one of the largest and heaviest cruise missiles ever created.
The projectile weighs six metric tons with a one-ton warhead and can fly at speeds up to 600 miles per hour. It is probably the weight of the missile that gives it its distinctive ‘S’ shaped flight path.
But this power and speed also comes with a budget. Each Flamingo costs approximately $500,000.
The missile is powered by the Ivcheno AI-25TL engine, originally designed by the Soviets for training aircraft. Many of them were scrapped at the end of their service life, so Ukraine bought them from the dump at a discounted price.
Standing on Ukrainian long-range ‘Flamingo’ cruise missile launcher with its distinctive bright pink tip
The prototypes were painted bright pink to make them easier to retrieve, giving them their distinctive nickname. Picture: Two members of a Czech donor fund for Ukraine look at the Flamingo cruise missile at the Fire Point secret factory at an undisclosed location
Workers inspect a Flamingo cruise missile at Fire Point’s secret factory in Ukraine on Monday, August 18, 2025
Flamingos can be assembled quickly because they are made of carbon fiber threads woven together by machines.
Kiev claims to currently produce three flamingos a day and aims to increase this to seven.
Pleasance said: ‘You can begin to understand why this missile caused such a stir when it was first introduced and why some people refused to believe it was real.
He added: ‘Russia strikes Ukraine almost every day with all kinds of long-range precision weapons: cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, even experimental missiles like Oresnik. These move fast and are hard to hit.
‘So there’s a whole battlefield Russia could cause great harm to Ukrainebut a place where Ukraine cannot harm Russia. At least so far.
‘Flamingo fills this gap in three ways. First of all, it has a very long range. Second, it has a very large warhead. The third one is made in Ukraine.’
A graphic detailing the technical specifications of the Flamingo missile and some of the attack locations where it was used
Pleasance said: ‘To say that the Flamingo has a long range is perhaps an understatement. ‘This is not only comparable to the long-range Western weapons supplied to Ukraine in the past, but is also significantly better.’
He added: ‘It’s in a completely different league and It puts almost the entire western part of Russia within striking distance.
‘This means that Ukraine can now strike strategically important factories, oil refineries, military bases, the vast majority of which are located in this region, and of course Russia’s most important cities. Moscow and St. Petersburg.’
Flamingo doesn’t include GPS, GNSS, or a terrain scanning system like Tomahawk, but achieved notable military successes during his short life.
Ukraine’s first Flamingo attacks occurred in late August 2025 and targeted an outpost in Crimea approximately 65 miles behind the front line.
While the goal wasn’t worth much on its own, it proved Flamingo’s abilities beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The next attack came just over three weeks later, in September 2025, when a Flamingo missile was shot down. A factory producing parts for Russian warplanes in Belgorod, Russia, about 40 miles from the front lines.
Launch of Ukrainian long-range FP-5 Flamingo missile, representing a major advance in the country’s offensive capabilities
Four missiles were launched. All four reached their destination and photos taken from the scene showed fires inside the factorysuggests significant damage has occurred.
Russia later claimed that two more attacks took place in October. One of the missiles appears to have failed when hit, while it is unclear where the other missile landed.
In November, the missiles were used again, this time against the Oryol power plant, 160 kilometers behind the front.
Four were launched, all four reached the target but all were shot down in the final phase of the attack. fiery debris rains down on the city.
In other attacks in December and January, the Flamingos fired almost 650 kilometers behind the front line; one of them hit the firing range used by Russia for its Oresnik missiles.
The pattern looks like this Each attack moves further into Russian territoryWe test the Flamingo’s range.
Two more attacks took place in February, both hitting, destroying two key facilities in the process.
First, the Kotlaban ammunition depot, located about 300 miles from the front, was blown up and later the Votkinsk missile factory was also heavily damaged.
The second attack was particularly significant because it took place more than 800 miles from the front lines, much further than Ukraine had ever been able to strike before, even with Western weapons.
An explosion occurred during the January attack by Ukraine on the Orlovskaya Thermal Power Plant in the Oryol region of Russia, which was known to have been hit by Flamingo missiles.
The last reported strike occurred in May. It targets the Cheboksari factory, which produces navigation components for Russian military vehicles.
Six missiles were launched and one hit the factory, but the extent of damage is unknown.
Hoş said:’In general, the hype is very real. There are flamingos, and in general they are capable of doing everything that Ukraine says they can do.
‘It has been used in at least eight attacks in the last nine months, five of which caused serious damage. For the first time since the start of the war, Ukraine has a long-range precision strike weapon in its arsenal over which it has full control.
‘Russia can no longer launch missiles into Ukraine with impunity. Kyiv can and will respond. ‘The tide of this war is slowly but surely beginning to turn in Ukraine’s favor.’
