August M
Ukrainian officials say a series of long-range strikes have damaged a key Russian military facility linked to ballistic missile launches
The attacks were carried out deep inside Russian territory over several weeks. Kyiv says the operation targeted infrastructure critical to Moscow’s strategic weapons program.
Strikes in Astrakhan
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Feb. 5 that its forces struck the Kapustin Yar airfield in Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast throughout January, according to the Kyiv Independent. The base is known as a major testing and launch site for Russian ballistic missiles.
“Based on current information, on the territory of the testing ground a part of the buildings have taken on various degrees of damage, one of the hangars was significantly damaged, and part of the personnel was evacuated from the territory,” the General Staff said in a post on Telegram.
Ukrainian officials described the strikes as part of a sustained effort rather than a single attack.
Oreshnik facility
Kapustin Yar is a Soviet-era installation that has long played a central role in Russia’s ballistic missile program. It is associated with the Oreshnik, an intermediate-range ballistic missile that analysts say is derived from earlier Soviet designs.
Russia first used an Oreshnik missile against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024. Public reporting suggests it was most recently deployed in a strike on Lviv Oblast on Jan. 9.
British intelligence has described the weapon as experimental and said Russia “highly likely only has a handful of Oreshnik missiles,” according to previous reporting cited by the Kyiv Independent.
Flamingo missiles
The General Staff said the January strikes were conducted “using long-range strike weapons of Ukrainian production, particularly the FP-5 ‘Flamingo.’”
The Flamingo is a Ukrainian-made cruise missile advertised as having a range of up to 3,000 kilometers and the ability to carry a 1,000-kilogram warhead. Its manufacturer, Fire Point, said last year that the missile had entered mass production.
Ukrainian officials have previously attributed several deep strikes on Russian-held territory to the Flamingo.
Questions and scrutiny
Despite official claims, publicly available evidence of successful Flamingo strikes has been limited, the Kyiv Independent reported. This has placed Fire Point under continued scrutiny.
The outlet previously reported that Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau was investigating Fire Point at the time President Volodymyr Zelensky attempted to pass legislation that would place the bureau under the authority of a prosecutor general appointed by him.
Fire Point has received funding from European backers and is seeking to begin production of its own rocket fuel at a facility in Denmark.
Sources: Kyiv Independent
