(KYIV) – Ukraine has struck a major Russian aerospace facility in Samara Oblast using domestically produced FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, marking a significant expansion of Kyiv’s ability to hit high value targets deep inside Russian territory without Western approval.
The strike targeted the Roscosmos Progress Rocket and Space Centre, a facility that manufactures Soyuz spacecraft and components used in attacks on Ukraine, according to confirmation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday 15th August 2026.
The Flamingo missile, dubbed for its light pink colour, has been presented by Ukraine as an answer to restrictions on Western supplied long range weapons. Unlike Storm Shadow missiles provided by allies, the domestically produced Flamingo requires no approval from Western countries, allowing Ukraine to use the weapon as it sees fit.
Further attacks were reported on the Savasleyka air base in Nizhny Novgorod region, a military airfield housing Russian aircraft.
Ukraine’s intelligence services, the HUR, also reported conducting a cyber attack on the Wildberries online retailer, which Kyiv accuses of supplying the Russian military. The campaign against the retailer has been ongoing since mid July 2026.
Russia has temporarily suspended operations at its Black Sea export facility in Novorossiysk following Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian port infrastructure. The duration of the shutdown remains unclear.
The missile strike occurred approximately 900 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, demonstrating Kyiv’s growing ability to strike strategic targets deep inside Russia.
Diane Francis, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told TVP World that Ukraine had been “incredibly creative and enterprising” in developing its own weaponry.
“They have been in the business of destroying energy facilities, military factories. They just blew up a rocket and space centre, thus probably destroying Russia’s any ability to ever get anybody in space again,” Francis said.
Francis noted that Ukraine had developed “an air force of drones” that had sunk the Russian Navy fleet in the Black Sea and was holding the Russian army at bay on the battlefront.
According to Francis, Ukraine’s kill zone is “probably killing or wounding 30,000 a month of Russian soldiers, many of whom now are being brought in from North Korea and other countries.”
Russia, by contrast, has chosen to target Ukrainian civilian populations rather than military targets. “Every missile that falls on an apartment building is a war crime and Putin doesn’t care,” Francis said.
The report was broadcast on TVP World’s World News Tonight programme on 16th August 2026, with correspondent Oz Katerji reporting from Kyiv.
Be First to Comment