Ukrainian officials say their military is now using a long-range missile that was designed and manufactured domestically and can reach targets inside Russia — a potentially crucial capability because the United States and other Western supporters have imposed restrictions on using weapons they donate to strike Russian territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, posting on the social media platform Telegram, said Ukrainian forces had successfully hit a target 700 kilometers (435 miles) away, using a missile “of our own production.”
The secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said Friday that the missile could travel farther but did not specify its full range.
“Sevastopol is waiting, Kamchatka is waiting, Kronshtadt is waiting,” Danilov wrote, perhaps with some exaggeration. Kamchatka, in Russia’s Far East, is about 4,500 miles from Ukraine. Reaching it would require an intercontinental ballistic missile, which only 10 countries in the world are believed to possess.
Ukrainian forces are increasingly striking at targets inside Russia and occupied Crimea — which Russia invaded and illegally annexed in 2014. Most of the Ukrainian strikes involve self-destructing water or aerial drones, and units of the country’s intelligence services. Ukraine often denies any connection to such the attacks, but officials privately confirm the strikes or issue statements celebrating them and indicating the involvement of Ukraine’s military or special services.
“The war is increasingly moving to Russia’s territory, and it cannot be stopped,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted Wednesday, after a drone attack on an airfield in Pskov, Russia, damaged or destroyed several military planes.
