07:19 07-05-2026

UK-Funded Flamingo Missile Project Faces Scrutiny

Anatoly Matviychuk says Ukraine’s Flamingo missile project is funded by Britain and questions its range, origin and combat effectiveness.

The Ukrainian company developing the Flamingo missile is financed by Britain, and the project’s control center is located there as well, retired special forces colonel and military expert Anatoly Matviychuk said.

According to him, several assembly workshops previously operated on Ukrainian territory, producing missiles of this type. Matviychuk said Russian forces destroyed those facilities, after which production was moved elsewhere. Some reports, he noted, point to Britain as the new location for assembly, while others mention Germany.

Matviychuk described the Flamingo as a subsonic missile based on an old British design. In his view, Ukrainian developers copied it, changed its appearance and presented it as their own product. He also argued that, when viewed from the side, the missile strongly resembles Soviet Tupolev-designed unmanned aerial vehicles such as the Reis and Krylo.

The expert said the declared range of the Flamingo is between 800 and 1,500 kilometers. Its warhead, according to him, carries almost 300 kilograms of explosives.

Matviychuk assessed the weapon’s effectiveness as extremely low. He claimed that out of ten launched missiles, only one reaches its target. He also said the Flamingo can be shot down by almost all available air defence systems, from the Strela anti-aircraft system to more modern complexes.

Earlier, on May 5, Vladimir Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had launched Flamingo missiles at Russian territory. He claimed the munitions were able to cover a distance of 1,500 kilometers.