KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s latest domestically-made ballistic missile will be ready for combat by the end of next month, the country’s biggest defense company said, providing Kyiv with a new offensive option to combat what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls Russia’s “ballistic terror.”
The president discussed the missile shortage as he repeated his call to allies to help bridge the gap in Ukraine’s air defenses and weapons production capabilities during his annual speech commemorating 35 years of Ukrainian independence on Monday.
“A solution to [Putin’s] ballistic terror must be found, and this gamble of his must not pay off,” he said.
Dubbed a lower-cost analogue of the U.S.-made ATACMS, Fire Point’s FP-7 ballistic missile can strike targets up to 186 miles (300 kilometers) away, depending on the size of its warhead, which can weigh up to 331 pounds (150 kilograms), according to company representatives.
The missile was previously expected to be combat-ready no earlier than the end of 2026.
Its accelerated debut comes as Kyiv seeks solutions to its shortage of ballistic interceptors and it doubles down on its “long-range sanctions” campaign of strikes on oil refineries and missile launchers across Russian territory.
“The FP-7 is currently undergoing final tests in order to also receive certification and proceed to combat trials. So we expect its first combat use at the end of September,” CEO Iryna Terekh said at the DALO Industry Days arms show in Denmark last week, according to UNN. “We are ready for this; not much preparation remains,” she said.
Producing ballistic missiles could offer Kyiv three forms of relief at once: a way to strike the launchers it can no longer reliably intercept, a way to hold Russian cities at the same risk Ukrainian ones now face and fresh leverage in any return to negotiations, according to Ukrainian officials and military strategists.
With interceptors running low globally, destroying launchers on Russian soil cuts the number of ballistic and cruise missiles that Ukraine has to take down in the air, swapping a small mark racing through the sky for a truck-sized target sitting stationary on the ground.
“Advocates of a more offensive approach argue that the country should be aiming to ‘shoot the archer, not the arrow,’” according to an Atlantic Council brief published earlier this month.
Fielding both missiles would “significantly enhance Kyiv’s ability to strike Russian missile launch and production sites, while also potentially boosting deterrence,” according to the analysis.
The ballistics would also put pressure on Moscow’s war infrastructure more broadly, a coercive deterrent that mirrors the strikes Russia has aimed at Ukraine’s since 2022.
Ukrainian officials and company spokespeople have also said that they hope that bringing ballistic warfare to Russian soil will help push Moscow back to the negotiating table.
“The Russians must be brought to the negotiating table. There finally must be sanctions that will make them howl,” Zelenskyy said during Monday’s address. “Ukraine must be given everything that will force [Russia] to end the war. And this is possible.”
Fire Point will debut its next-generation missile, the larger FP-9, by late autumn, company representatives told Reuters earlier this month.
Traveling at speeds up to 2,200 meters per second, the FP-9 will be capable of carrying a 1,764-pound (800 kilogram) warhead as far as 531 miles (855 kilometers) — putting Moscow well within range, according to United24.
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