Ukraine moves towards regular use of ballistic missiles, says Zelenskyy

Ukraine has successfully deployed its Neptune missiles and plans to make regular use of its own ballistic rockets in the future, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced.

“We have successfully used Neptune missiles, our cruise missiles, on multiple occasions. There will come a time when we will be able to regularly deploy our own ballistic missiles,” Caliber.Az quotes Zelenskyy as saying.

He described the development of ballistic capabilities as a key national security priority.

“This is one of the state’s crucial security objectives, involving all the enterprises and personnel responsible for Ukraine’s missile programme. Having our own effective ballistic missiles is one of the guarantees of our security,” Zelenskyy added.

The R-360 Neptune is a Ukrainian-developed subsonic cruise missile, created by the Luch Design Bureau in Kyiv as a response to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. Initiated in 2010, the project accelerated amid escalating threats, drawing on Soviet-era Kh-35 technology but with enhanced range, targeting, and electronics.

Officially adopted by Ukraine's Armed Forces in 2020, the ground-launched Neptune measures 5.05 meters long, weighs 870 kg, and carries a 150 kg warhead, powered by a Motor Sich MS400 turbofan engine.

Primarily an anti-ship weapon, it boasts a 280-300 km range for striking vessels up to 9,000 tons. Its fame peaked in April 2022 during the Russo-Ukrainian War, when two Neptunes sank the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva—the navy's worst loss since World War II—boosting Ukraine's defence credibility and ally confidence.

By 2023, a land-attack variant, "Long Neptune," emerged, extending range to 1,000 km with a 260 kg warhead for precision strikes on ground targets like airbases, depots, and factories in Russia.

Used in operations such as the 2024 Krasnodar drone facility hit and the 2025 Bryansk plant strike, it underscores Ukraine's rapid indigenous innovation, now integral to national security amid ballistic ambitions.

By Aghakazim Guliyev