The Flamingo missile had a combat application, but it acted on its own: what helped to hit the Russian Federation — Zelensky
Ukraine plans to scale up the use of Flamingo missiles by the end of 2025, the president said during a meeting with the media. "Suspilne" published the main theses of Zelenskyi, who, among other things, touched on the issue of the production of anti-aircraft drones, which requires an even greater number, and there are not enough operators. Zelensky's meeting with the media took place in the afternoon of October 28.
According to the president, "Flamingo" was used repeatedly and there was an "effective result". At the same time, it was not specified exactly what targets these cruise missiles were hitting and at what approximate distance they were located. As for the "scaling", the head of state said that it will be "serious". The President also spoke about the pace of production of anti-aircraft drones.
It turned out that contracts are currently being concluded that will make it possible to increase the volume of interceptor drones to 500-800, which shoot down Russian Shahed kamikaze drones. In addition, there is another problem in this context - there are not enough operators. Another thesis of Zelenskyi concerned aviation. He stated that the air fleet will be updated with 250 modern Rafal, Gripen, F-16 fighters: negotiations and contracts are being concluded at this stage.
"Flamingo" is a Ukrainian cruise missile, which became known in August 2025. The manufacturing company Fire Point reported that the FP-5 "Flamingo" can fly 3,000 km at a subsonic speed (up to 950 km/h), and the weight of the weapon is 1 ton. "Ruta" is a rocket-drone that Ukraine presented at the end of 2024. Zelenskyy stated that there have been successful applications of "Ruta": range up to 300 km, speed - up to 800 km/h.
It should be noted that on October 10, President Zelensky announced the joint use of the Flamingo missile and the former Neptune anti-ship missile of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The head of state assured that the strikes were effective and took place probably during the previous week (September 29-October 5). At the same time, it turned out that the Palanytsia drone missile hit the ammunition depots of the Russian Armed Forces, and the Ruta hit a sea platform located 250 km away.
Meanwhile, in October, People's Deputy Yury Kostenko said that Ukraine will not receive the promised 3,000 Flamingo missiles, as the manufacturers announced unrealistic plans. In addition, the question of payment: it is not clear how to pay for the means of defeat, the unit of which costs about 500,000 dollars.
On October 27, Zelenskyi's explanation appeared, who assured that the money would be available and that it was found directly in the Ukrainian budget, because the partners did not allocate the funds. According to the president, there were also certain technological problems with "Flamingo", which the manufacturing company has already dealt with.