President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky reported a delay in the deployment of production for Ukrainian "Flamingo" missiles some time ago due to a Russian strike on manufacturing facilities.
"I openly stated that a Ukrainian plant producing 'Flamingo' missiles was also hit. Whether it was deliberate or accidental, I don’t want to discuss that now. But there was a production delay. Later, production resumed, and a certain number of missiles were built. We sincerely hope that this number will continue to grow and that further strikes will be carried out against the Russian Federation," Zelensky said in an interview with the German Public Broadcasting Association (ARD), without specifying when the incident occurred.
According to him, several warehouses and a weapons manufacturing plant in Russia have already been destroyed by strikes using "Flamingo" missiles.
The President also said that Ukrainian forces are monitoring the production of components for the "Oreshnik" missile in Russia, which is linked to future operational tasks.
"The Russians are hiding the 'Oreshnik' system. We understand why. Currently, they have three systems on Russian territory. These are the ones we can see. We want to have even more capabilities. When there are many air defense systems, you have to attack in combination, just as the Russians attack us: a large number of drones, followed by missiles. It’s difficult to overcome air defense, but we are working on this," Zelensky said.
He stated that he does not intend to disclose the locations of U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems in Ukraine, but noted that "80% of our country does not have such systems against ballistic missiles."
The President emphasized that these systems are extremely expensive, costing EUR 1.5–2 billion per system, with a single missile costing EUR 2–3 million.
"I wanted at least to create conditions for the United States to sell these systems to us, but they did not provide them. Today we do not have the opportunity to purchase systems from the U.S. We negotiated directly with the manufacturer. Systems are being produced for us—I won’t say when they will arrive, but they will. Various other countries, Asian countries, and countries of the Global South that have these systems, as well as European states, our close friends, are not giving us these systems… What am I supposed to do as president? Ensure delivery. I believe I succeeded thanks to our partners. I am grateful to them. We did not receive the additional system we aimed for, but we received two systems. I believe we worked well with our partners, and we received more funding for missiles than we can actually purchase," Zelensky explained.
