Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal has stated that Ukraine is close to manufacturing its own ballistic missiles.
He announced this in an interview with BBC Ukraine.
When asked when Ukrainian ballistic missiles could be expected to appear and be regularly used against targets in Russia, Shmyhal replied: “The president has already announced that Ukraine will have its own ballistic missiles. We are very close to this. That’s basically all I can say publicly on this matter.”
In February 2022, before the start of Russia’s large-scale aggression, Ukraine allocated several hundred million hryvnia to the rocket industry. In particular, it was planned to finance the creation of a domestic operational-tactical complex, known as “Sapsan” and “Grim-2.”
It is known that at that time, an operational-tactical missile complex (OTRK) was being developed for two types of missiles: 900 mm in diameter with a range of 500 km for domestic use and 600 mm in diameter with a range of 280 km with the prospect of export.
In July 2024, the President stated that Ukraine was close to deploying domestic ballistic missiles. And in early August, it became known that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine had allocated additional funds to the Ukrainian rocket-building program.
On August 27, 2024, Volodymyr Zelensky officially confirmed the successful testing of the first domestic ballistic missile.