Ukraine successfully tested its first homemade ballistic missile

Ukraine has been looking for ever-stronger ways to strike Russia since the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion but Kyiv's allies and partners have not been very receptive to its pleas for permission to use their weapons on targets deep inside of Russia.

There has been some talk of Washington and London allowing Ukraine to use the long-range missiles they have supplied Kyiv inside of Russia, but there have been no definitive signals yet, so Ukraine has turned to making its own long-range missiles and using other means to attack Russia.

Ukraine had been using mass drone attacks to strike targets deep within Russia, but as of October 1st, the country successfully tested its new domestically made ballistic missile according to comments made by President Volodymyr Zelensky during a speech. 

While speaking at the opening of the second International Defense Industries Forum, Zelensky revealed Ukraine’s new long-range ballistic cruise missile had successfully completed all of its flight testing.

“Our new ballistic missile has successfully passed its flight tests,” Zelensky said. This wasn’t the first time the world learned about Kyiv’s new cruise missile, nor was it the first time Zelensky had revealed that the weapon was undergoing testing. 

On August 27th, Zelensky was speaking at the Ukraine 2024 Independence forum when he casually mentioned that the country’s military had successfully tested Ukraine’s new long-range ballistic cruise missile for the very first time. 

“What other developments are there in Ukraine? I thought it was too early to talk about it, but… There was a positive test of the first Ukrainian ballistic missile. I congratulate our military production complex on this,” Zelensky said according to Politico. 

Few other details were provided by Zelensky at the time, but he explained he wanted to share the news "so that Ukrainian society would know and appreciate domestic defense producers working 24/7."

The revelation was a rather significant one at the time since Kyiv had been attempting to get approval from its Western allies, particularly the United States, to utilize ballistic missiles supplied by the West against targets inside Russia, something Washington is still refusing to approve. 

“Domestically produced long-range weapons are of key importance to Ukraine's defense strategy as Western partners refuse to authorize deep strikes in Russia with foreign-made missiles,” The Kyiv Independent’s Abbey Fenbert explained. 

“Despite Zelensky's appeal to Washington during his recent White House visit, the U.S. has not altered its policy on long-range strikes,” Fenbert added. 

Zelensky was in the United States in mid-September to speak at the United Nations where he urged the world leaders to back his peace plan and warned of future attacks Russia had planned against Ukraine according to The Guardian. 

The Ukrainian President also went to Washington to present Ukraine’s victory plan to Joe Biden. Zelensky met with Vice President and the Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris as well about the plan according to CNN.

On September 27th, Zelensky also sat down with Donald Trump in a private meeting to discuss Ukraine’s victory plan and ongoing invasion of the country.

CNN reported that Ukraine’s victory plan includes the long-standing request for approval to use Western-supplied cruise missiles on targets inside of Russia, a request Biden did not seem to approve during Zelensky’s visit, nor has he approved in the weeks since. 

On September 30th, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller reiterated that U.S. policy on Ukrainian use of Western long-range missiles had not changed, but he did note that Ukraine could use domestically produced weapons on targets in Russia according to Kyiv Post. 

“Ukraine does not need our permission to strike back against Russian targets. They are a sovereign country and can use the weapons that they build on their own,” Miller said while speaking with reporters during a press briefing. 

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