Ukraine Tests Hrim-2 - its First Indigenous Ballistic Missile

“Perhaps it’s too early to talk about this, but I want to share this news with you. Ukraine has successfully tested its first ballistic missile,” Zelensky said during the „Ukraine 2024” forum. The president congratulated the Ukrainian defence industry on the success of the project but did not disclose any additional details about the new weapon, including what type of ballistic missile it is.

A day earlier, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov stated that the country is preparing a response to Russian airstrikes, using domestically produced weapons. “This once again proves that to achieve victory, we need long-range capabilities and the lifting of restrictions on attacks on enemy military targets,” Umerov emphasized.

A few days earlier, Zelensky revealed that Ukraine had also developed a drone named “Palanytsia”, which was successfully used in operations against Russia.

The President's words suggest that Ukraine's defence industry has completed work on a domestically produced ballistic missile. These projects have been carried out under several programs, the most well-known of which are Sapsan and its export version Hrim-2 (Thunder-2). A mock-up of the launcher was presented at the Kyiv military parade in 2018. Since then, efforts have been made to secure funding to complete the project. The missile mentioned by Volodymyr Zelensky may be based on the Sapsan project, or it could be its completed version.
Adam Świerkowski, Defence24.pl editor

It is also possible that a new weapon was created, based on the experience drawn from work on Sapsan and the Neptune anti-ship missile. The latter is still being developed by Ukraine's defence industry. It cannot be ruled out that know-how or solutions acquired from Western allies were also used in the development of the new ballistic missile. The development of such a weapon by the Ukrainian defence industry is undoubtedly a significant feat, although it seems unlikely that Ukrainians would be able to produce these missiles in large quantities.
Adam Świerkowski, Defence24.pl editor

In January of this year, Brigadier General Serhiy Baranov, head of the Main Directorate of Missiles, Artillery, and Unmanned Systems of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told a journalist from Kyiv, not Kiev about the progress of work on domestically produced ballistic missiles from the Sapsan/Hrim-2 family. He noted that one of the tests of the new missile resulted in hitting a target at a distance of 700 km. The general added that many new weapon systems are at the prototyping stage, and the implementation of those systems will be accelerated.

Interestingly, in March 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that Ukraine had started using Hrim-2 ballistic missiles. A ministry spokesperson stated at the time that Russian air defences allegedly intercepted one of the missiles. “Today, one Hrim-2 ballistic missile and three HIMARS missiles were intercepted in the area of the settlements of Novoandriyivka and Zeleny Hay,” the Russian Ministry of Defense reported at the time.