Ukraine just built a missile that can hit Moscow and it arrives this autumn
1 hour ago · 4 October 2026Share
The FP-7 and FP-9 missile exhibit displayed at the MSPO 2026 International Defence Industry Exhibition in Kielce, Poland. File photo. Krzysztof Popławski · CC BY 4.0
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine's new homemade missile can reach Moscow.
And he says it'll be ready this autumn.
Ukraine's President told Reuters this in an interview in Kyiv, held two days ago. He says he personally called Fire Point, the Ukrainian company building it, to push them to finish.
Zelenskyy says quote "where is my FP-9? We need the FP-9."
So what is the FP-9?
It's a ballistic missile. Fire Point says it can fly up to 850 to 855 kilometres. It can carry a warhead of up to 800 kilograms.
Moscow is about 500 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. That's well inside the FP-9's range.
And here's the thing. It launches from a mobile ground vehicle. That makes it much harder for Russia to find and destroy before it fires.
This matters because it's Ukraine's own missile. Not a Western one.
Most of this war, Ukraine has fought with weapons from America and Europe. Those come with range limits. They come with rules on how Ukraine can use them.
A missile Ukraine builds itself comes with neither.
And this isn't Ukraine's first one. The FP-9 follows the FP-7, a shorter-range missile that flies about 250 kilometres. Ukraine fired the FP-7 at a target inside Russia for the first time this week.
So Ukraine has already proven it can build and fire one of these. The FP-9 is the next step up. More than three times the range.
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Moscow, Russia, as viewed by Hodoyoshi-1 satellite. File photo. Axelspace Corporation · CC BY-SA 4.0
But here's what Zelenskyy's own side is flagging.
The Ukrainian outlet Mezha, reporting on the same interview, says the autumn timeline is a target for Fire Point to hit. It is not confirmation the missile is finished. It is not confirmation it has been tested at full range.
Two months ago, Fire Point's chief executive, Iryna Terekh, told Reuters the company was aiming for the FP-9 to be ready by late fall. She separately said the company wants its first ballistic-missile interception by the middle of 2027.
Zelenskyy also says large-scale production of Ukraine's ballistic missiles depends partly on parts that have to come from other countries. That's the same supply problem that has slowed Ukrainian weapons programmes before.
So why is Ukraine pushing so hard right now?
Zelenskyy links it to what he says Russia is planning for this winter. He says Ukrainian intelligence has obtained documents showing Vladimir Putin ordered a new doctrine. One that hits a wider range of civilian targets.
Zelenskyy says quote "this is the goal of the operation."
He says Ukraine will answer by hitting Russian oil refineries harder. He says it will not target civilians.
Russia's Foreign Ministry, asked about the wider interview, says Moscow will keep hitting what it calls retaliatory targets, in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russia. The Kremlin had no comment available on the day the interview came out. Neither side has said anything specifically about the FP-9.
Zelenskyy also says he has seen no sign Russia wants peace talks. No sign it wants a ceasefire covering energy infrastructure either. This is even as the Trump administration tries to revive negotiations, and has invited Vladimir Putin to a G20 summit in Miami this December.
So what don't we know?
Whether the FP-9 has actually been tested over its full stated range. How many of them Ukraine will have by autumn. Whether the component shortages Zelenskyy mentioned will slow things down.
And Russia hasn't said whether it believes the missile is real. It hasn't said how it would respond if Ukraine starts firing one at targets deep inside Russian territory. Including, potentially, Moscow itself.
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