Ukraine used its Flamingo cruise missile alongside domestically produced drones to strike “several dozen objects” in Russian-occupied territories and inside Russia itself on Thursday, the Ukrainian military general staff said. The Ukrainian-made FP-5 missile can fly 3,000km (1,864 miles) and land within 14 metres (45ft) of its target, and is one of the largest such missiles in the world, able to deliver a warhead of 1,150kg (2,535lb), according to experts. It is commonly known as a Flamingo missile because initial versions came out pink after the factory used the wrong paint, and is a partial alternative to the advanced Tomahawk missiles that the US has held back from supplying to Ukraine.
The general staff said Ukrainian forces hit a marine oil terminal in occupied Crimea, a helicopter parking lot and UAV storage area, training areas at the Kirovsk airfield, and an air defence radar station in the Yevpatoria area. “In the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia region, an oil depot in the Berdiansk area and forward command posts of the 5th Combined Arms Army and the 127th Motorized Rifle Division of the Russian occupiers were hit. Facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation were also hit. The extent of the damage is being clarified … The Ukrainian Defence Forces continue systematic fire damage to facilities involved in providing support to the Russian occupation army.”
Russian forces launched a “massive” drone and missile attack on Kyiv early on Friday, officials said, striking apartment buildings and triggering explosions and fires. “Air defences are in action in Kyiv,” said the mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Klitschko said falling debris had struck a five-storey apartment building in Dniprovskyi district on the east side of the Dnipro River and a high-rise dwelling was on fire in Podil district on the opposite bank. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said both drones and missiles had been deployed against the capital. Ukraine’s air force reported that Russian missiles were targeting Kyiv and several other regions.
Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top commander, visited units fighting to hold Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region and coordinate operations in person, he said on Thursday. Syrskyi said key goals were to regain control of certain areas, protect supply and evacuation lines and create new ones. “There is no question of Russian control over the city of Pokrovsk or of the operational encirclement of Ukraine’s defence forces in the area,” Syrskyi said. According to the Financial Times (paywalled), the involvement of Russia’s Rubicon unit, which uses drones to hunt Ukrainian drone operators, has enabled Russian advances in the battle for Pokrovsk.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, said he was not opposed to withdrawing amid the “very difficult” situation in Pokrovsk but it was a decision for commanders on the ground. “No one is forcing them to die for the sake of ruins. I will support our soldiers, especially the commanders who are there, in how they can control the situation, or it’s too expensive for us. The most important thing for us is our soldiers,” the president said in an interview with Bloomberg (paywalled). The Institute for the Study of War said: “Russian forces will likely collapse the pocket around Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, but the significance of seizing these towns will depend on the circumstances and conduct of the Ukrainian withdrawal.”
Zelenskyy visited troops near the south-eastern front on Thursday and said the situation near the village of Orikhiv was “one of the most difficult”. Thwarting Russian forces there was key to shielding the city of Zaporizhzhia. “An important city, the enemy certainly wants it,” the president said of the regional capital. “We certainly have to defend it,” he said, awarding medals to troops and discussing ways to strengthen the lines.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU was releasing a €6bn loan to Ukraine and promised more money for Kyiv. “We will cover the financial needs of Ukraine for the next two years.” The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “thinks he can outlast us” in the battle over Ukraine’s future, she said in a speech to the European parliament on Thursday. “And this is a clear miscalculation,” she said. “Now is therefore the moment to come, with a new impetus, to unlock Putin’s cynical attempt to buy time and bring him to the negotiation table.”
