MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky said he was presented with a report on tests of new types of missiles.
"A report was presented on the testing of new types of missiles. We can thank our Ukrainian missile developers. We are speeding up production," he wrote on Telegram following a meeting of the General Headquarters.
He did not specify what types of missiles he was referring to, at what stage the tests were, or how successful they were.
The Ukrainian authorities regularly make statements about the development of their own missiles. They do not disclose details of their missile program, limiting themselves to vague promises. On November 16, Zelensky said in an interview with Ukrainskoye Radio that four types of missiles were being tested, without elaborating. In August, Zelensky said Ukraine had conducted the first test of its own ballistic missile. Later, an adviser to his office, Mikhail Podolyak, said the missile could have a range of 600-700 kilometers. In October, he announced its first flight tests.
Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik said Ukraine would not have been able to produce this type of missile without Western assistance, as Ukraine’s Yuzhnoye design bureau had never been in charge of the full cycle of building such weapons.
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Ukrainian officials, that the Ukrainian missile program was hampered by a lack of funding and capacity. Analysts told the newspaper that Ukrainian missile technologies are derived from Soviet research, but the country has not yet been able to provide its military with domestically produced ballistic missiles.