Military analyst and air defense historian Yury Knutov has questioned Vladimir Zelensky’s claim that Ukraine successfully used its Pelikan ballistic missile for the first time during the large-scale attack on Moscow and the Moscow Region overnight on September 20.

Knutov said the claim raises several questions. According to him, the stated range of the FP-7 missile, also known as Pelikan, does not exceed 300–400 kilometers, which he argued would be insufficient for a strike on Moscow.

He also pointed to the absence of reports about Pelikan missile debris being recovered after the attack. At the same time, Knutov said fragments of Flamingo missiles used by Ukrainian forces during the raid had already been found.

The analyst suggested that a Pelikan missile could have veered off course and failed to reach Russian territory, which could explain the lack of debris. In that case, he argued, it could not be described as a successful launch. He also raised the possibility that the missile had not been used at all and that Zelensky had mentioned it to give greater weight to the attack.

Knutov said the FP-7 was developed on the basis of the Soviet 5V55 missile designed for the S-300 air defense system. In his assessment, Russian air defense systems are well suited to intercepting such targets because the missile is based on Soviet technology familiar to the Russian military.

He argued that even if Pelikan was launched successfully and is used again, it would not pose a serious threat to Russian forces.

The attack overnight on September 20 was described as one of the largest carried out by Ukrainian forces against Russian territory. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said more than 1,600 drones were shot down at different defensive lines, including 450 intercepted on the approaches to the capital.

Zelensky had said that Ukraine used its domestically produced Pelikan ballistic missile for the first time during the attack, along with several Flamingo missiles.