Ukraine’s new Flamingo cruise missile made its devastating debut against Moscow and Russian oil infrastructure on Sunday, with President Volodymyr Zelensky hailing the impact of the longest-range weapon ever built inside his country.
The 6-ton, 40-foot missile was designed and mostly built by Ukrainian defense startup Fire Point, and it carries a greater range than the American Tomahawk at nearly 2,000 miles. Zelensky, 47, first teased the weapon in February when it struck the Kremlin-owned Votkinsk machine plant 860 miles inside Russia, then revealed full production in August 2025 with a bold prediction.
“Our long-range responses had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night,” Zelensky wrote on X. “One of Russia’s key oil industry facilities and the aggressor’s logistics facility were hit.”
He continued: “These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine.”
The Sunday bombardment paired the Flamingo with Ukraine’s new Pelican ballistic missile, a faster but shorter-range weapon meant to overwhelm Russian air defenses and clear the path for the longer projectiles. Together they formed part of a massive assault involving more than 1,000 drones, the largest such attack on the Russian capital since the full-scale invasion began.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the overnight assault as the “largest ever” attack on the capital, with significant damage reported at the Gazpromneft-Moscow Oil Refinery. The facility, which produces some 11.6 million tons of oil annually according to Russian data, lit up with massive fires that burned through the night.
The human toll stretched across the wider Moscow region, where local governor Andrei Vorobyov reported at least two people killed and another 20 wounded.
Zelensky had previously vowed that the Flamingo — named for its pink hue during prototype testing — would become Ukraine’s “most successful missile” ever. Sunday’s strike appeared designed to prove that claim on a grand stage.
The timing carried additional political weight. Russia was holding voting across five Ukrainian regions under its military occupation, including the illegally annexed Crimea peninsula, in elections widely condemned as illegitimate by the international community. Sobyanin suggested the attack was aimed at disrupting those elections, which he claimed failed.
Ukrainian strikes against Moscow’s oil refineries have been escalating for months, triggering production shortages, fuel price spikes and long lines at pumps across many Russian regions. Kyiv has made no secret of its strategy: cripple the energy revenues that fund Russia’s war effort.
US officials have separately noted that the attacks are adding pressure to global oil prices already elevated by the ongoing war in Iran.
The Flamingo represents a significant leap in Ukraine’s domestic weapons production, which has accelerated since Western aid faced repeated delays in Washington and European capitals. Where early in the war Kyiv depended heavily on foreign-supplied systems, the Fire Point missile joins a growing roster of homegrown long-range strike capabilities.
The February strike on Votkinsk had established the Flamingo’s record as the deepest Ukrainian attack into Russian territory using a domestically manufactured weapon. Sunday’s reach toward Moscow itself reset that benchmark dramatically.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense is expected to issue a formal assessment of the damage in the coming days.