Ukraine Tried To Take Out Russia's Oreshnik Missile Base. But The Flamingo Cruise Missiles Apparently Missed.
The Flamingo may be a dud.
Russia builds its most terrifying missiles at Kapustin Yar, south of Moscow—including the hypersonic Oreshniks.
Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted Kapustin Yar, inflicting some damage with drones.
But a recent barrage of Flamingo cruise missiles may have missed.
Ukrainian forces recently launched at least four Fire Point FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles at the Russian missile base in Kapustin Yar, 1,000 km south of Moscow.
The good news is that the controversial FP-5 is back in action after an apparent long pause. The bad news is that there’s no obvious sign the 6-ton missiles actually hit anything of value on the sprawling Kapustin Yar site, where the Russians develop, build and test missiles such as the hypersonic Oreshnik.
The Ukrainian military circulated a video montage of the four ramp-launched FP-5s blasting off overnight sometime last month. Analysis group CyberBoroshno bought commercial satellite imagery of Kapustin Yar and scrutinized it for evidence of any FP-5 impacts on the most important parts of the facility, including sites 28 and 105. The turbojet-powered missiles pack massive, 1,000-kg warheads.
“There are no FP-5 hits on sites 105 and 28,” CyberBoroshno reported. But the group did detect evidence of less destructive impacts. “There are consequences of UAV strikes,” CyberBoroshno concluded.
That makes sense. Ukrainian drone units have repeatedly targeted Kapustin Yar—especially in 2024. In July of that year, at least one Ukrainian drone reportedly struck a rocket assembly building at the base, setting it ablaze.
