Kamikaze robots, Flamingos & Pelicans… The new lethal arsenal that could force Putin’s hand as Moscow hit by huge attack

FROM kamikaze robots behind enemy lines to Pelican missiles, Ukraine’s lethal new arsenal is striking the heart of Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Kyiv is rapidly developing long-range and ballistic missiles to overwhelm Russia’s air defences with unrelenting attacks – with Moscow rocked by a massive drone onslaught just days ago. Moscow was battered by hundreds of Ukrainian drones over the weekend Credit: East2West Hundreds of drones rained down on Sunday in Ukraine’s ‘biggest ever’ onslaught on Moscow Ground-launched ballistic missile systems are ‘almost impossible to intercept’ say experts Credit: Reuters The Russian capital’s biggest oil refinery was engulfed in flames in Ukraine’s weekend attack Credit: East2West Almost five years after Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv’s deep strikes inside Russia could force the tyrant’s hand, experts say. Justin Bronk, an expert in air power and military technology at RUSI, told The Sun: “Putin can choose to end the war at any point. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! “He will do so if he perceives the risk of doubling down on more aggression. “For Ukrainians this is an existential non-discretionary war of national survival.” Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces unleashed the largest attack on Moscow since the start of war on Sunday – on the final day of Russia’s election. Russian officials were left reeling after 450 drones swarmed the capital followed by a volley of state-of-the-art missiles. The strikes left two dead, with gaping craters in apartment blocks and huge plumes of smoke filling the sky. Zelensky confirmed Kyiv had hit a “key” Russian oil facility and a logistics site in the region – which supplies more than a third of Moscow’s fuel as well as aviation fuel for the military. Most read in The Sun Red hot flames and smoke shooting out of a burning oil refinery in Moscow – struck by Ukrainian drones on Sunday Credit: AP Ukraine’s deadly strikes are cracking Vladimir Putin’s image of total control, say experts Credit: AP Ukraine’s defence minister said attacking such facilities “directly undermines the enemy’s ability to continue its war of aggression and supply its military formations”. Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin accused Ukraine of trying to “disrupt” the country’s parliamentary elections. The tyrant’s party is set for a convincing win in what has been widely described as a “sham” election – used by Putin as evidence of public support for his war policies. Fears have been rising that the results will be falsified – used by Putin as evidence of widespread public support for his war policies. Justin said: “It represents a successful, politically poignant strike by the Ukrainians at the heart of the Russian government’s seat of power. “It’s about cost and political damage to the image of control that Putin wants to portray to ordinary Russians and particularly to Russian elites.” Zelensky revealed the operation involved an FP-7 ground-launched ballistic missile – Pelican. Designed and built in Ukraine by defence start-up Fire Point, the missile boasts a maximum range of 124 miles with a 150kg payload and accuracy of 13 metres. Hellish red flames engulfing a facility in Moscow on Sunday Credit: East2West DJI Matrice 300 reconnaissance drones are used to spy out enemy territory Credit: AFP Sunday marked the first official confirmation that the weapon has been used in combat after it finished testing earlier this month. Justin said: “Ballistic missiles travel much much faster on a high ballistic trajectory. “They will come down very, very quickly and from a high angle, which makes them almost impossible to intercept.” Speed also has a direct correlation with range, so the bigger the missile is built the faster and further it will go. Before the launch, Ukraine relied on its allies for replacement ballistic missiles like the US-made ATACMS. Meanwhile, the longer-ranged FP-9 missiles were currently undergoing flight tests in Ukraine. Justin said: “The FP7 and short-to-medium range missile like the FP9 that they’re working on will significantly cut down the number of Russian systems that can intercept them once they’re working. “They will force the Russians to use more of their stock of larger, longer-ranged surface-to-air missile interceptors. Volodymyr Zelensky revealed the deadly arsenal of missiles unleashed against Russia on Sunday Credit: Shutterstock Editorial A block of flats was also struck in the onslaught on the Russian capital – killing two Credit: Reuters “And if they can do that cheaply, then that will be a significant draw on Russian defense capability and ultimately economy,.” Sunday’s blitz also included “the FP-1, RZ-100, MICH-2000, Palianytsia, Vendetta, Liutyi, Bars, Flamingo, Sichen”, Zelensky added. The Flamingo, first launched in August 2025, can hit targets more than 3,000km away with a menacing 1,000kg warhead. It has a six-metre wingspan and reaches speeds of up to 900km/h before decimating its targets. Compared to a Western-made cruise missile, it’s much cheaper and much bigger. Justin said: “The Ukrainians have ended up concentrating on the long- range strike campaign, which is causing politically visible constant effect. “Lots of fire and smoke around major Russian areas from warehouses, oil and gas refineries, and causing economic problems in Russia in order to increase the political pressure on the regime.” Ukraine also has an enormous variety of one-way attack drones that have relentlessly attacked Russia’s front lines and deep into Moscow. Relentless Ukrainian dron strikes are suffocating Putin’s fuel supplies Credit: East2West Flamingo missile warheads weigh 1,000kg – and can decimate targets at a distance of 1,860 miles Credit: AP Justin said: “They’re cheap enough that you can launch them by the hundreds. “That means Russian air defenses have to deal with hundreds of slow, low flying targets that are moving at lots of different speeds, flight altitudes, with different radar cross-sections. “The vast majority of them are shot down by Russian air defences but it uses up a lot of air defence capacity for the Russians to deal with.” The potential targets in the cross hairs of Ukraine’s growing arsenal of drones and ballistic missiles is now “huge”. Justin said: “You’re looking at Ukrainian UAVs and cruise missiles that can go 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 kilometres. “The potential number of targets that can be reached within the expanse of Russia, even with convoluted routing to avoid defence concentrations, is huge.” But it is not only Ukraine’s long-range campaign causing havoc for Putin. UAVs launched from the frontlines have been used to destroy Russian vehicles supplying the Kremlin’s troops. Dramatic photos show the destruction of Russian Amazon’s mega-hub – sending Putin’s economy into a tailspin Credit: East2West Apocalyptic explosions following Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries over the summer Credit: East2West Justin said: “That is having significantly more effect, especially in the south, over the last six months than it would have had previously. “Russia’s ground-based air defence is much less dense than it used to be because they’ve had to disperse a lot of it back into Russia to defend against the long-range strike campaign.” As part of what it calls Operation Vivaldi, Ukraine is also airlifting so-called kamikaze ground robots and dropping them behind enemy lines on the battlefield for the first time. Robots are sent ahead of infantry to harass Russian forces from behind – controlled by pilots hidden in bunkers tens of kilometers away. They carry ammunition and can capture enemy positions, trudging across rugged terrain and bombed-out streets up at a speed of up to 12km per hour. Ukraine’s military said: “Heavy bomber UAVs carried kamikaze ground robots more than 10km behind Russian positions. “Drones are no longer only carrying explosives. They are carrying robots that carry explosives. “The objective remains human: send machines into the most dangerous part of the battlefield before sending infantry.” Ukraine has spent the summer blitzing oil depots with state-of-the-art drones, before shifting to a series of strikes that have crippled Russia’s largest e-commerce platform. The attacks have tanked Russia’s already reeling economy – wiping out businesses, suffocating trade and sparking nationwide fuel shortages. Russians are now trying to flee the country in increasing numbers amid fears of a new military mobilisation. The anti-war project Ark has reported a sharp increase in requests for emergency emigration support from Russians since July. Zelensky has said Putin is planning to draft over 300,000 new recruits to help pummel Ukraine’s defences and take the rest of Donetsk. The Kremlin has denied the mobilization rumour for months – a decision that would have posed a risk for Putin ahead of elections. Hundreds of thousands of people fled Russia after Putin decreed a partial mobilisation in 2022. Since then, Russia has sustained 1.4 million casualties. It comes amid reports of increasingly aggressive recruitment efforts in Penza – 388 miles southeast of Moscow. Justin said: “Putin will stop the war if he perceives the risk of doubling down – with more aggression and mobilisation – as higher for his domestic political survival than the risk of stopping. “Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign is influential because what it’s targeting is the Russian elite perspective of risk and cost. “Whereas what the Russians are trying to do is convince Ukrainians to give up in a war of existential national survival and that’s harder to do.” Comment now