Ukraine ‘Doing Everything Possible’ to Match Domestic Missile Program With Drone Developments – Defense Minister

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said the country is “doing everything possible” to develop its domestic missile program to match the existing drone developments. 

Speaking on television on Sunday, Umerov said Ukraine has already shared details of its missile program with its Western allies and received “verbal consent” on funding, though it’s still awaiting “final written answers.”

“We have developed a missile program, it is powerful enough. We have already shared it with our partners and are waiting to see how much of that capability they will support. They have given us verbal consent so far that they will fund it. In the near future, we will receive the final written answers from our partners. 

“And we are doing everything possible so that our missile program is close in number to the drone program in our country,” said Umerov, as per Ukrinform citing the television statement. 

A day earlier, Umerov said Ukraine plans to produce several million drones by 2025. It’s likely Umerov referred to the amount of funding for Ukraine’s missile program in his Sunday statement rather than the actual number of production units.  

On Aug. 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had carried out successful tests of a new drone missile called the “Palianytsia.”

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A few days later, Zelensky said at a press conference that Ukraine had a “positive test of the first Ukrainian ballistic missile” but refused to elaborate further. It’s unclear if Zelensky was referring to the “Palianytsia.”

Though details on Ukraine’s domestic missile program remain scarce, related reports have been circulating for some time.

In June 2023, former defense minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine “has an approved missile program” to produce long-range missiles and cited the R-360 Neptune subsonic cruise missile as a successful example of Ukrainian-manufactured missiles.

In July this year, Zelensky said Ukraine was “gradually approaching the possibility of using [its] own missiles” in regards to the country’s domestic missile program.