Zelenskyy: Ukraine started using Sapsan ballistic missiles

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine has started using domestically produced Sapsan ballistic missiles. The head of state said this during a conversation with the media.

"I will be frank: Ukraine is already using Neptunes, long Neptunes, Palyanytsia, Flamingo, and Sapsan, and I'll be honest, they have started to use them. And I will not say in [what] quantity, I will answer this question rather rhetorically [...] in a generalized way. Why? Because we don't want the enemy to know all the precedents and details," the president said.

He also hinted that there are cases when Ukraine uses Sapsans, while the Russians think that the strikes were carried out by Neptune cruise missiles.

"Neptunes work really well. And there are many moments when our enemy believes that Neptunes were used. And let them continue to think so," the President said.

Ukraine needs ballistics because it less vulnerable for Russian air defense systems than cruise missiles.

• In June 2025, in an article for LIGA.net, analyst Badrak first reported that the Ukrainian ballistic missile system Sapsan was being put into mass production.
• According to the expert, in mid-May 2025, the first successful combat "Peregrine" tests – Ukrainian defenders destroyed a Russian military facility at a distance of almost 300 km.
• Zelenskyy later confirmed that work was underway on launching these missiles in a series.
• Read more about the characteristics of Sapsan read here.