Ukraine's new 'Flamingo' missile can strike targets up to 3000 kms away, has ability to hit deep inside Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg
Photos of the Flamingo missile were shared by Associated Press photojournalist Efrem Lukatsky. According to reports, it has been developed by a Ukrainian company named Fire Point. Its design is quite similar to the earlier FP-5 model, which was originally linked to a Dubai-based company called Milanion.
The Flamingo missile is about six meters long and weighs nearly six tons. It flies at high subsonic speed and is an unmanned cruise missile, in simple words, it can be called a 'large drone.' Why Flamingo missile dangerous for Russia?
So far, Russia's big cities have largely been shielded from the direct impact of the war. Most of the casualties have come from rural areas or non-Russian regions. But if missiles like Flamingo repeatedly strike Moscow or St. Petersburg, it could shake Putin's political grip. History shows that when ordinary city residents start suffering the pain of war, the foundation of power begins to weaken. The Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan was also accelerated for this very reason. Ukraine's challenges
However, the Flamingo missile has its own weaknesses. Being a cruise missile, it can travel long distances but does not fly very fast. Cities like Moscow have strong air defense systems, making it unlikely that one or two missiles alone could succeed.
To make an impact, Ukraine would need to launch them in large numbers, using decoys and electronic warfare for support. In this, weapons like the American MALD (Miniature Air-Launched Decoy), which has a range of over 900 km, could play a big role. Is this missile a gamechanger?
The Flamingo missile alone will not change the course of the war. But if Ukraine launches it in large numbers, along with local decoys, electronic jamming, and ballistic weapons, the situation could shift. Such a strategy could bring the war's impact directly to ordinary citizens living in Russia's capital.
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Indian Express
18 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Putin's demand to Ukraine: give up Donbas, no NATO and no Western troops, sources say
Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters. The Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-US summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like, according to the sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Speaking afterwards beside Trump, Putin said the meeting would hopefully open up the road to peace in Ukraine – but neither leader gave specifics about what they discussed. In the most detailed Russian-based reporting to date on Putin's offer at the summit, Reuters was able to outline the contours of what the Kremlin would like to see in a possible peace deal to end a war that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people. In essence, the Russian sources said, Putin has compromised on territorial demands he laid out in June 2024, which required Kyiv to cede the entirety of the four provinces Moscow claims as part of Russia: Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine – which make up the Donbas – plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Kyiv rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender. In his new proposal, the Russian president has stuck to his demand that Ukraine completely withdraw from the parts of the Donbas it still controls, according to the three sources. In return, though, Moscow would halt the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, they added. Russia controls about 88 per cent of the Donbas and 73 per cent of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to US estimates and open-source data. Moscow is also willing to hand over the small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls as part of a possible deal, the sources said. Putin is sticking, too, to his previous demands that Ukraine give up its NATO ambitions and for a legally binding pledge from the US-led military alliance that it will not expand further eastwards, as well as for limits on the Ukrainian army and an agreement that no Western troops will be deployed on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, the sources said. Yet the two sides remain far apart, more than three years after Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in a full-scale invasion that followed the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and prolonged fighting in the country's east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. Ukraine's foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the proposals. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognised Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and has said the industrial Donbas region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine. 'If we're talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that,' he told reporters in comments released by Kyiv on Thursday. 'It is a matter of our country's survival, involving the strongest defensive lines.' Joining NATO, meanwhile, is a strategic objective enshrined in the country's constitution and one which Kyiv sees as its most reliable security guarantee. Zelenskyy said it was not up to Russia to decide on the alliance's membership. The White House and NATO didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the Russian proposals. Political scientist Samuel Charap, chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, a US-based global policy think-tank, said any requirement for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas remained a non-starter for Kyiv, both politically and strategically. 'Openness to 'peace' on terms categorically unacceptable to the other side could be more of a performance for Trump than a sign of a true willingness to compromise,' he added. 'The only way to test that proposition is to begin a serious process at the working level to hash out those details.' Russian forces currently control a fifth of Ukraine, an area about the size of the American state of Ohio, according to US estimates and open-source maps. The three sources close to the Kremlin said the summit in the Alaskan city of Anchorage had ushered in the best chance for peace since the war began because there had been specific discussions about Russia's terms and Putin had shown a willingness to give ground. 'Putin is ready for peace – for compromise. That is the message that was conveyed to Trump,' one of the people said. The sources cautioned that it was unclear to Moscow whether Ukraine would be prepared to cede the remains of the Donbas, and that if it did not then the war would continue. Also unclear was whether or not the United States would give any recognition to Russian-held Ukrainian territory, they added. A fourth source said that though economic issues were secondary for Putin, he understood the economic vulnerability of Russia and the scale of the effort needed to go far further into Ukraine. Trump has said he wants to end the 'bloodbath' of the war and be remembered as a 'peacemaker president'. He said on Monday he had begun arranging a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit with the US president. 'I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended,' Trump said beside Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. 'I feel confident we are going to get it solved.' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Putin was prepared to meet Zelenskyy but that all issues had to be worked through first and there was a question about Zelenskyy's authority to sign a peace deal. Putin has repeatedly raised doubts about Zelenskyy's legitimacy as his term in office was due to expire in May 2024 but the war means no new presidential election has yet been held. Kyiv says Zelenskyy remains the legitimate president. The leaders of Britain, France and Germany have said they are sceptical that Putin wants to end the war. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff was instrumental in paving the way for the summit, and the latest drive for peace, according to two of the Russian sources. Witkoff met Putin in the Kremlin on August 6 with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. At the meeting, Putin conveyed clearly to Witkoff that he was ready to compromise and set out the contours of what he could accept for peace, according to two Russian sources. If Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement, then there are various options for a formal deal – including a possible three-way Russia-Ukraine-US deal that is recognised by the UN Security Council, one of the sources said. Another option is to go back to the failed 2022 Istanbul agreements, where Russia and Ukraine discussed Ukraine's permanent neutrality in return for security guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, the sources added. 'There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war,' one of the people said.
The Hindu
18 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Trump gives two weeks to assess Russia-Ukraine peace talks
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Economic Times
32 minutes ago
- Economic Times
"Very hard to win war without attacking": Trump hints at letting Ukraine "fight back" amid peace talks
Synopsis Donald Trump hinted at allowing Ukraine to "fight back" against Russia, criticizing Biden's restrictions and claiming the war wouldn't have occurred under his presidency. This shift follows Russia's intensified attacks and a stalled meeting regarding ceasefire terms. While ruling out US troops on the ground, the White House considers air support and is developing security guarantee frameworks for Ukraine. ANI "Very hard to win war without attacking": Trump hints at letting Ukraine "fight back" amid peace talks US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) hinted at allowing Ukraine to "fight back" against Russia, marking a departure from his earlier peace stance, as he said, "It is very impossible, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invading country." Promising "interesting times ahead," Donald Trump criticised Joe Biden for not allowing Ukraine to "fight back" against Russia, calling the former US President "grossly incompetent" for his action, reiterating that the war would never have happened if he (Trump) was the President. In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said, "It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader's country. It's like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defence, but is not allowed to play offence. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia. Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out? Regardless, this is a war that would have NEVER happened if I were President - ZERO CHANCE. Interesting times ahead!!!" This comes after Russia launched its largest drone and missile attack on Ukraine in more than a month, just days after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump in Alaska. Nine civilians were killed in the strikes as well as in shelling in eastern Ukraine, CNN reported, citing Ukrainian officials. The meeting in Alaska failed to establish any solid ground for the ceasefire as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remained insistent on having security guarantees before agreeing to a ceasefire. However, Trump has suggested a trilateral meeting involving him, Putin and Zelenskyy in the near future. Trump has also promised that the US would be involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine. The US leader said that there would be some form of security guarantees for Ukraine, but did not reveal whether this would involve US US White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of US sending troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees."The president has definitively stated US boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies. The president understands that security guarantees are crucial to ensuring a lasting peace. He has directed his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe and also to continue to cooperate and discuss these matters with Ukraine and Russia as well," she being asked if the US would provide 'air' as a security option, Leavitt said that it was a possibility."It is an option and a possibility. I certainly won't rule out any military options that the president has at his disposal. I'll let him do that. I can tell you he's ruled out boots on the ground," she being pressed for further details on the security guarantees for Ukraine, she said, "President Trump has directed his team to come up with a framework for these security guarantees that can be acceptable to help ensure a lasting peace and end this war," she said.
