June 11, 2026
To ensure a cruise missile reaches its target, careful route planning is essential. This is clearly demonstrated by the reconstructed flight path of the FP-5 Flamingo during the strike on russia’s VNIIR-Progress facility
Ukrainian FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles successfully struck the russian enterprise AO VNIIR-Progress, located roughly 1,000 km from Ukraine’s border. The plant plays a critical role in russia’s long-range weapons production, manufacturing anti-jamming Kometa satellite navigation antennas.
While the strike results, including damage to the main administrative and production building, were reported earlier, additional russian photos have since emerged, providing a clearer view of the impact site.
https://t.me/operativnoZSU/213048
https://t.me/kiber_boroshno/13170
The visualization indicates that the missiles initially bypassed the city at a distance of roughly 170 km, passing near Ulyanovsk, then continued beyond Cheboksary before turning back toward the target area.
This again highlights a key point: a strike against targets inside russia is not simply a matter of launching a missile. It requires detailed mission planning and intelligence support, including route design aimed at avoiding Russian radar coverage and air-defense systems.
Even under such conditions, interceptions remain possible. According to the visualization, two Flamingo missiles were intercepted on their approach to the Chuvash region, and another was reportedly shot down near Cheboksary itself. Given that at least five missiles were launched, this suggests that one or two may have successfully reached the target.
Since the facility was hit, the overall outcome of the strike can be considered successful. For comparison, during a previous attack on the same plant in early May, only one of six missiles reportedly reached the target, which is still within the expected range of cruise missile performance against layered air defenses.
It is also worth noting that, due to extensive maneuvering both during the initial phase and likely along the full route, as well as probable launch locations deep inside Ukrainian-controlled territory, the actual flight distance of the FP-5 Flamingo may have significantly exceeded 1,000 km.
By the same logic, earlier this year we reported that the FP-5 Flamingo may have set a new long-range strike record during the attack on the Votkinsk plant in late February, when the missile potentially covered 1,600–1,650 km or more while actively maneuvering to avoid interception.
It seems as if the Ukrainians are getting cocky about their abilities by announcing such details of a long-range strike as described in the article. Mafia land has (rather had) a huge number of air defense systems. This goes back already to the SU era. It made sense because the West always had the better air force and huge naval air assets to boot. Thus, air defense was essential.
Ukraine’s attacks illustrate the high level of success the AFU had in eliminating a large part of it, making extended strikes more survivable.