Click to see full-size image. (FSB)
The Ukrainian military-industrial complex planned to produce 200 Sapsan ballistic missiles per month before the program was derailed as a result of a special operation carried out by the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
The FSB obtained intelligence on Ukraine’s secret missile program, which was then targeted by the MoD. Chemical and mechanical plants in Pavlograd, Dneptropetrovsk Region, as well as the “Zvezda” plant and State Scientific Research Institute of Chemical Products in Shostka, Sumy Region were struck during the operation.
The Sapsan, also known as Hirm and Grom, is believed to have a maximum range of 700 kilometers and a warhead weighing 480 kg. The FSB warned that the missile would have been capable of hitting a large part of Western Russia, including the capital Moscow.
RT published on August 14 FSB-intercepted communications on the missile program between employees of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.
“Then we are planning on producing 200 units a month,” one of the people said in the conversation.
The same person revealed that a Sapsan was camouflaged as a container which opens once brought to combat readiness.
Later, Russian strikes on the facilities producing Sapsan components were discussed. According to the conversation, 30 drones and projectiles struck the enterprises. Notably, the parties complained that they were being spied on by Ukrainian intelligence.
The conversation separately mentioned foreign delegations that were apparently supposed to visit the Ukrainian missile production sites.
An official from the FSB had told TASS that the Sapsan was being developed with financial support from Germany and assistance from foreign specialists.
In May, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that Berlin would fund Kiev domestic production of long-range weapon systems. The German Defense Ministry also stated at the time that the “first of these systems could be deployed in the Ukrainian armed forces in just a few weeks.”
The Russian special operation – which inflicted “colossal” damage on the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, according to the FSB – came as Kiev was preparing to escalate ahead of the summit between President Vladimir Putin and United States President Donlad Trump in Alaska.
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