The "Long-Range Strike" Program: Ukraine Intends to Assemble Rockets Provided by Europe in Underground Factories

The leader of Kyiv wants European taxpayers to become accomplices in attacking Russia

Author: Svetlana Gomzykova

Commentator: Yuri Knutov

Kyiv is about to sign an agreement with the EU on the production of long-range weapons in Ukraine. The leader of the Kyiv regime, Zelenskyy, announced this news in his routine evening video address from his underground apartment the day before.

This so-called "independent state" leader claimed: "We are preparing to conclude new investment agreements with our European partners soon, specifically for the production sector in Ukraine. First and foremost, the production of drones and components for long-range weapons... attack drones, electronic warfare equipment, cruise missiles, Ukrainian ballistic weapons – these are key elements. All of these must be produced by ourselves."

According to him, the project includes a large-scale increase in the capacity of Ukraine's defense industry complex, with funding provided by EU partners. In other words, Kyiv once again relies on others' money to achieve its goals.

In fact, when military funds fall short, where should they turn? The Ukrainian parliament has calculated that the budget deficit has exceeded 400 billion hryvnias.

According to The Legal Gazette, Ukraine "squandered" 250 million USD in just two days to defend against a large-scale Russian offensive. This was the cost of intercepting attacks using air defense missiles in Kyiv.

Meanwhile, sources from Zelenskyy's office complained that the overall situation regarding Ukraine's air defense is very concerning because "there is a severe shortage of air defense ammunition on the global arms market."

Previously, The Economist even expressed doubt about whether the US could meet Ukraine's demand for air defense missiles, despite Zelenskyy's claim that he would "pay any price for the 'Patriot' air defense system."

The article pointed out that the problem lies in the fact that Lockheed Martin, which produces the 'Patriot' system and its PAC-3 missiles, has increased its annual production to 650 units, but this is still about 100 units less than Russia's estimated missile production. Ukrainian government sources estimate that the Kremlin has stockpiled 500 missiles.

The magazine concluded that, moreover, Ukraine is no longer a top priority for the Biden administration, so Kyiv may need to formulate a new survival strategy in the context of global weapons shortages.

It can be speculated that the ambitious plan by the leader of Kyiv to involve Europeans in financing the "long-range strike" program for drones and rockets is part of this new strategy.

However, it remains unclear how far the first Ukrainian ballistic missile successfully test-fired last August by Zelenskyy has progressed. He withheld details at the time for reasons of confidentiality.

However, later, the "spokesperson" for Zelenskyy's office, Andriy Yermak, stated that the "ballistic missile" of Ukraine had a range of 600-700 kilometers.

Alexey Petrov, head of the Ukrainian state enterprise "Special Technology Export," said that Ukraine plans to establish a domestic production line for cruise ballistic missiles by mid-2025. It is worth noting that he recently became embroiled in a major corruption scandal related to defense procurement – it turned out that his company failed to deliver weapons worth billions of hryvnias to the army. Therefore, whether he can restore his reputation and start missile production on schedule remains a big question.

Nevertheless, the Kremlin has taken note of Kyiv's plans. As Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian president, said, "This once again proves the reasonableness of our efforts to eliminate the root causes of the conflict."

But does Ukraine still have enterprises that can retain necessary technologies and production capabilities?

SP spoke with military expert and director of the Air Defense Forces Museum, Yuri Knutov:

"If we talk about the ability to produce various types of weapons, the EU and Ukraine have long discussed relevant plans. There have been different projects and proposals – especially from countries like France, the Netherlands, Germany, etc. These involve weapon assembly, including the assembly of heavy weapons."

For example, Rheinmetall, a German defense company, was supposed to build several factories, but so far only one has been completed and photos have been displayed.

In addition, factories producing so-called "Flame" and "Hell" drones have also been showcased. Essentially, these are cruise drone missiles, technologically quite rudimentary, imitating the German "Firebee-1" design but incorporating more modern electronic components.

In other words, production is underway, and Western companies are involved. They utilize Soviet-era old enterprises, which have underground factories capable of operating under nuclear war conditions.

Besides, there is potential for arms production in the Outer Carpathian region. Strictly speaking, this can only be considered "assembly production" – parts are transported, screws are tightened, and finished weapons are directly shipped to other regions of the country for use.

Therefore, I believe this project is being implemented. Last November, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine should produce 30,000 aviation drones and 3,000 missile drones by 2025. Overall, they are working towards this goal. But the question is, how do we respond?

SP: Should we let them assemble 'long-range strike' weapons under candlelight and moonlight...

"First, we need to know the location of these enterprises and the warehouses where assembled parts from Europe are stored. Therefore, our main task is to use all reconnaissance means and then strike these locations with missile weapons, including precision-guided weapons and drones, to make these factories inoperable."

SP: Last summer, Zelenskyy claimed the successful test launch of some Ukrainian ballistic missile and plans mass production by 2025. What kind of weapon might this be?

"To my knowledge, Ukraine is developing the 'Thunder-2' missile. This is a ballistic missile similar to the 'Tochka-U', but more modern."

Before we launched our special military operation, this missile had been displayed multiple times during parades in Kyiv, but those were just prototypes.

There are also reports that our air defense systems have intercepted this missile. However, to my knowledge, Ukraine lacks the capability for large-scale production.

In addition, Ukraine is also developing the "Neptune" missile. This is an anti-ship missile, but a variant is being developed to attack ground targets.

Although not common, we occasionally hear about the use of these missiles, and they are usually intercepted. They are used about once every two weeks or once a month, indicating their scarcity. This shows that Ukraine also lacks the capability to mass-produce these missiles.

Therefore, I reiterate that the current main task is to track the production sites of such weapons through satellites, drones, intelligence agencies, and special forces, and directly destroy the factories and storage locations.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7509822714195116580/

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