Ukraine conflict: Kyiv claims to have tested long-range strike weapons

A schematic and an animated diagram of Ukraine's Palyanitsya cruise missile, released on 24 August 2024. (United24 Media)

Ukraine has tested long-range strike weapons, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

He spoke on Ukrainian television on 27 August of a successful test of the country's first domestically produced “ballistic missile”, congratulating the country's defence industry but declining to share details about the weapon. No name, imagery, or further information about a Ukrainian ballistic missile was released.

This followed the revealing of a possibly different weapon on 25 August. Zelensky said on X (formerly Twitter), “Yesterday, the first successful combat use of our new weapon – the Ukrainian long-range rocket drone ‘Palyanitsya' – took place. It was designed domestically to destroy the enemy's offensive potential,” he said. “Rocket drones production will grow just like our long-range strike drones production did, whose efficiency we see almost daily.” Janes assesses that what has been termed a ‘rocket drone' is ostensibly a cruise missile.

Zelensky continued, “In the two and a half years of full-scale war, Russia has launched about 10,000 missiles of various types and more than 33,000 glide bombs at Ukraine. Stopping attacks on our cities can be achieved by targeting the carriers of this weaponry – Russian aircraft stationed at military airfields.”