Russia Destroys Ukraine’s Sapsan Long Range Missile Program with Major Attack

Defence affairs - Def-Geopolitics

The Russian Armed Forces have successfully targeted four Ukrainian defence industrial facilities contributing to producing long-range missile systems, marking a major setback to the Ukrainian Sapsan ballistic missile program.

Sites targeted included chemical and mechanical plants in Pavlograd, as well as the Zvezda plant and State Scientific Research Institute of Chemical Products in Shostka. 

The agency claimed that the damage to Ukraine’s military industrial complex was “colossal,” adding that Ukraine had planned to use Sapsan long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russian territory. “Thanks to the joint efforts of the FSB and Russian Armed Forces, Ukraine’s missile program plans have been thwarted,” it concluded. Highlighting the extent of the threat, the agency published a map outlining the Sapsan’s range, which showed it covering a large part of Western Russia including the capital Moscow. The missile program was thought to have been largely funded by Germany, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz having announced in May that Berlin would finance Ukrainian production of long range missiles.

The Sapsan began development in the mid-2000s as a replacement for the Soviet OTR-21 Tochka, a short ranged ballistic missile class that had been widely fielded by the Soviet Army. Major delays to the program, however, left the Ukrainian Army heavily reliant on the OTR-21 when full scale hostilities with Russian broke out with Russia in 2022. The depletion of the arsenal led the United States to re-equip the Ukrainain Army with the ATACMS, a significantly more advanced ballistic missile system. ATACMS supplies have diminished significantly, however, while their effectiveness against Russian positions has varied widely due to the effective use of electronic warfare to disrupt their guidance systems.