At this secret missile factory, Ukraine is strengthening its domestic arms industry

We are driven blindfolded to an undisclosed location where Ukraine is building one of its latest weapons.

We’re told to turn off our phones – such is the secrecy surrounding the production of Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missile.

For Ukraine, dispersing and concealing such weapons production is key to survival. Two factories owned by Fire Point, the company that makes the product, have been hit.

In the rooms we visited we were told not to photograph any features such as columns, windows or ceilings. We were also asked not to show the faces of workers on the assembly line – where the Flamingo missile is in various stages of completion.

Even under attack, Ukraine continues to strengthen its arms industry. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that more than 50% of the weapons used on the front lines are produced in the country. Almost all of its long-range weapons are domestically produced.

When the war began, Ukraine relied primarily on old Soviet-era arsenals. Western military support has helped the country modernize its armed forces, but China is now ahead of much of the world in developing unmanned systems such as robots and drones.

Now, domestically produced cruise missiles are enhancing Ukraine’s long-range capabilities.

Iryna Terekh is the chief technology officer of Fire Point, one of Ukraine’s largest drone and missile manufacturers whose Latin motto translates as “If not us, then who.”

The 33-year-old once studied architecture, but now she is working to help dismantle the Russian war machine.

She left a small figure in front of the giant Flamingo missile, which she told me was painted black instead of pink (unlike earlier prototypes) “because it eats Russian oil.”

The final product looks similar to the German V1 rocket from World War II. It consists of a large jet engine placed on top of a tube the length of a London bus.

They have been used in combat, but the company would not confirm specific targets.

The Flamingo is the deep-strike weapon that Western countries have been reluctant to offer.

The cruise missile is said to have a range of 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles). This is similar to the American-made Tomahawks — the more advanced and expensive weapons that President Donald Trump has refused to provide to Ukraine.

But deep strikes are seen as a key part of the war, and Ukraine mainly uses long-range drones. It is still losing to Russia on a frontline that stretches more than a thousand kilometers. As a result, Ukraine has increasingly sought to target Russia’s war economy in order to slow these advances.

General Alexander Silsky, commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said that Ukraine’s long-range strikes have caused more than $21.5 billion in losses to the Russian economy this year.

Ruslan, a Ukrainian special operations force officer, said the strategy was simple: “Weaken the enemy’s military capabilities and its economic potential.”

He said Ukrainian special operations forces had carried out hundreds of attacks on oil refineries, weapons factories and ammunition depots deep in enemy territory.

Of course, Russia has been doing the same thing, but on a much larger scale. On average, about 200 Shahed drones are launched per day; Ukraine’s response is about half that number.

Russian strikes are not limited to military targets, either. Its long-range missile and drone attacks have caused massive blackouts across the country and made life more difficult for millions of civilians. “I want to launch as many drones as Russia,” Ruslan said. “But we are scaling up rapidly.”

Fire Point’s Ms. Tarek said Ukraine’s resources may not match Russia’s, but “we are trying to fight with intelligence and tactics,” she said.

Denys Shtilerman, the company’s lead designer and co-founder, admitted that there is no such thing as a “Wunderwaffe” – that is, a magical weapon.

“The game-changer was our will to win,” he said.

Prior to the full-scale Russian invasion, the Fire Point simply did not exist. But the startup is now producing 200 drones a day. Its FP1 and FP2 drones are about the same size as small aircraft and carry out 60% of Ukraine’s long-range strikes. Each drone costs about $50,000, making it three times cheaper than the Russian Shahed drone. Russia still produces nearly 3,000 vehicles per month.

Ukraine still needs outside help, especially with intelligence, targeting and funding. But it is working to become more self-sufficient.

Ms. Terek said they had made a deliberate decision to source as many components as possible from within Ukraine.

“We operate on the principle that no one can influence the weapons we make,” she said. They avoid using components from two specific countries – China and the United States.

Asked why there shouldn’t be American components, she said “We’re on an emotional roller coaster[with the United States]. Tomorrow someone might want to shut it down and we wouldn’t be able to use our own weapons.”

Until the end of last year, the United States under President Joe Biden provided military support worth nearly $70 billion to Ukraine. This was quickly stopped under President Trump—instead, he instituted a plan to allow European NATO to purchase U.S. weapons. The United States is no longer Ukraine’s largest military backer, and Europe has struggled to fill the void left by the United States or match its previous support.

Concerns about future U.S. support have spilled over into discussions about future U.S. security guarantees – a key issue in current peace talks. Ms Terech dismissed the ongoing talks as “capitulation talks” and said Ukraine making its own weapons “is the only way to truly provide security”.

The former architecture student also hopes the rest of Europe will take notice and learn from the experience.

“We are a bloody example when it comes to war preparation,” she said.

Ms Terek said she wanted to get them to take action and believed if any other country faced the same attacks as Ukraine “then they would have been conquered”.

Additional reporting by Volodymyr Lozhko and Kyla Herrmannsen.