President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had tested its first domestically produced ballistic missiles.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday, Zelensky named the “positive test of the first Ukrainian ballistic missile” as one of Ukraine’s achievements but refused to elaborate further.
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“What other developments are there in Ukraine? Well, I thought it was too early to talk about it, but ... There was a positive test of the first Ukrainian ballistic missile. I congratulate our military-industrial complex on this.
“It may be too early to talk about it but I want to share it with you,” Zelensky said.
It’s unclear if the new ballistic missile was the same as the successfully tested domestic long-range missiles he mentioned in September 2023.
On Aug. 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had carried out successful tests of a new drone missile called the “Palianytsia.”
On Monday, Aug. 26, following Russia’s massive missile strike on Ukraine, Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov vowed to respond with “weapons of own production” in an update without elaboration.
Though details on Ukraine’s domestic missile program remain scarce, related reports have been circulating since at least December 2022.
Dr. Oleksandr Marchenko, a physicist reportedly involved in Ukraine’s missile development, told Euromaidan Press in December 2022 that work was allegedly underway at the Pivdenmash factory that created intercontinental ballistic missiles during Soviet times, and that Ukraine possessed certain expertise as the former Soviet regime took part in missile developments.
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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.
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