Ukraine to Provide Separate Funding for Domestic Ballistic Missile Program

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered separate funding for the country’s ballistic missile program, aiming to accelerate missile production.

Earlier in May, during a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Headquarters, Zelenskyy directed officials to speed up the development of a Ukrainian ballistic missile.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine had allocated several hundred million hryvnias to support the missile industry.

At the time, plans were in place to fund the development of a domestic operational-tactical missile system known as Sapsan or Thunder-2 (Hrim-2).

The project included two missile variants: a 900 mm diameter version with a 500 km range for domestic use, and a 600 mm version with a 280 km range intended for export.

In July 2024, Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine was nearing operational deployment of its domestically developed ballistic missile.

In early August, the Cabinet of Ministers allocated additional funding to support the program.

On August 27, Zelenskyy confirmed the successful test of the first Ukrainian-made ballistic missile.

“There was a successful test of Ukraine’s first ballistic missile,” the president said.

No technical specifications have been disclosed, but the missile is believed to be a continuation of the Sapsan/Hrim-2 project.

In April 2025, Minister for Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin stated that production had reached levels sufficient for regular deployment of both the ballistic missile and the long-range version of the Neptune missile.

As Zelenskyy noted, “war must be felt where it originates,” describing long-range capabilities as a clear and effective component of Ukraine’s defense strategy.

A detailed history of Ukraine’s operational-tactical missile programs can be found in our special report (in Ukrainian).