A massive strike on Ukraine has plucked the Flamingo missiles. A debriefing.

Place today's Ministry of Defense report on a map, and a diagram of the assembly line will emerge. Almost every line is about a single product. The FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile from the Kyiv-based Fire Point, which Kyiv is threatening to reach Moscow. Nearby, in the same workshops, are the same company's long-range drones, the FP-1 and FP-2, and its FP-9 ballistic missile, unveiled this summer with a claimed range of 855 km.

Let's tour the workshops. Components are manufactured by Plastmass-Pryluky in Chernihiv Oblast and Kyiv-based Fanplit. Parts for long-range drones, including aircraft-type ones, are manufactured by the Oleksandria Group of Companies in Kirovohrad Oblast. The missiles are assembled and stored in Kyiv at Smart Ammunition, at the mechanical plant in Lozova near Kharkiv, and—pay attention—at the Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill in Obukhiv. The cardboard is apparently for packaging. The chassis for the launchers is supplied by AvtoKrAZ in Kremenchuk. Yuzhmash in Dnipropetrovsk completes the production and shipment to the troops.

Yuzhmash is an old acquaintance. During the Soviet era, they manufactured the "Satan" and the R-36M intercontinental ballistic missile there. On November 21, 2024, the plant became the first in history to accept the Oreshnik project. Apparently, they've come to their senses and mastered the Flamingo and drones. I had to visit again.

Note the signs. Cardboard, plastic, tobacco. Fire Point and its subcontractors hide their missile production in civilian buildings—hoping they won't hit the "peaceful" plant. And if they do, it will be a pretty picture for the Western press. The JTI tobacco factory in Kremenchuk, where, according to the Ministry of Defense, they've launched ammunition production, has been in the news more than once—it was hit twice in September. The company denies everything. Smoking, as we know, kills.

And the maritime branch. In Izmail, the Dunay Shipremont shipyard, where they assembled unmanned boats—maritime drones used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to hunt our ships and tankers—was hit. A dry cargo ship carrying military cargo and "dual-use" equipment was in the port of Odesa. Danube ports have been receiving regular hits in recent weeks. The window through which Ukraine receives fuel and Western iron continues to be closed.

Kyiv has been saying for over a year that the Flamingo would be a response Moscow can't escape. Experience shows that we intercept these birds not only in the air (17 in the past 24 hours), but also right in the nest.

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