Several Ukrainian Flamingo FP-5 missiles flew more than 1,000 kilometres into Russia and struck a factory that produces key components for deadly drones, in what amounted to a precision blow against a facility that has been a source of major headaches for Kyiv's forces.
The cruise missiles targeted the Progress plant in Cheboksary, capital of Russia's Chuvash Republic, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday. The facility manufactures the Kometa antennas that enable Russian drones and missiles to bypass Ukrainian air defences during the Kremlin's massive strikes on the country. An upgraded version of the antenna, introduced in early 2025, features anti-jamming elements that have rendered existing electronic defence systems ineffective.
“Ukraine's Flamingo missiles hit a Russian factory making drone antennas that bypass Kyiv's air defences.”
"Overnight, Ukrainian FP-5 Flamingos hit a military plant in Cheboksary that supplies the occupier's army with components for drones and missiles," Zelensky wrote on Telegram, publishing footage purportedly showing a missile flying toward its target and plumes of smoke from a facility. Ukraine's military later said the VNIIR-Progress plant had been struck and there had been a fire at the site. The Chuvash Republic head, Oleg Nikolaev, confirmed that Cheboksary had been hit and reported three injuries, though he did not say whether the military plant was damaged. Independent Russian media channel Astra used videos posted by locals on social media to trace the strike to the Progress plant.
Wednesday's attack was the second to successfully target Progress' facilities in a little over a month. After the company's administrative building was hit on 5 May, the complex was covered with drone nets.
The Flamingo FP-5 missile, which has a 1,150kg warhead and a reported range of 3,000km, can carry about a ton of explosives and fly at low altitudes. Ukrainian engineers have spent months cracking the Kometa antenna's technology and developing ways to "spoof" them, but the Flamingo strikes have the potential to stop them from ever making it onto the battlefield. "I can't say how many Flamingos we produce a month, but there are enough of them in storage," Denys Shtilierman, co-owner and chief constructor of Fire Point, the manufacturer, told POLITICO. "Now, when we get an EU loan, they will fly in a flow."
The strike came as part of a broader wave of Ukrainian attacks. Kyiv also said it had hit the Moscow-occupied port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, a Russian oil refinery in Samara and a "shadow fleet" oil tanker in the Black Sea. Russia's military said its air defence units intercepted or shot down 326 Ukrainian drones over several regions overnight. Meanwhile, Ukraine's air force said it downed 181 out of 207 drones fired by Russia during that time, admitting 21 direct hits in 14 locations. At least two people were killed and 26 injured, including two children, in four Ukrainian regions in the past 24 hours, local officials said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far rejected all negotiation proposals. Last week, he said he did not see any point in meeting Zelensky after the Ukrainian leader requested face-to-face talks to try to end the war. The Kremlin leader also insisted that Russian troops were advancing everywhere on the vast front line, although evidence shows that the front has been virtually static in the past several months.