Russian strike temporarily delayed Flamingo missile production, Zelensky says
President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian strike on a Ukrainian defense manufacturing facility temporarily delayed the rollout of Ukraine's domestically produced long-range Flamingo cruise missiles.
Speaking in a Feb. 23 interview with German broadcaster Tagesschau, Zelensky confirmed that a Ukrainian factory producing the missiles had been hit.
"There was a delay in production. Later, production resumed, and a certain number of missiles were built," Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine expects missile output to continue increasing and that Flamingo missiles have already been used in strikes against targets inside Russia.
Zelensky's comments refer to previously reported Russian strikes on facilities belonging to Fire Point, the Ukrainian company associated with the Flamingo missile program. Russian forces struck the company's production sites twice, destroying two major workshops, according to company officials.
Despite the damage, Fire Point said diversified logistics and manufacturing capacity allowed it to continue fulfilling contracts, though the strikes caused significant financial losses.
During one of the attacks near Vyshhorod, a software engineer employed by the company was killed.
PZelensky linked the need to expand Ukrainian missile production to Russia's evolving air defense network and the deployment of the Oreshnik missile system.
"Russians are hiding the Oreshnik system. We understand why. At the moment, they have three systems on the territory of the Russian Federation. These are the ones we see," Zelensky said.
"When there are many air defense systems, you have to attack in combination, just as Russians attack us. A large number of drones are launched first, and then missiles. It is difficult to overcome air defenses, but we are working on it," he said.
Ukraine has increasingly relied on domestically produced long-range weapons to strike military targets deep inside Russia. On Feb. 21, Ukraine's General Staff reported that Flamingo cruise missiles were used in a strike on the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant in Russia's Udmurt Republic, a facility producing Iskander-M and other missile systems located more than 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) from Ukraine's border.
