On the night of May 4–5, Ukrainian forces struck the russian VNIIR-Progress military plant in Cheboksary, located more than 900 km from the Ukrainian border. It is known that the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles were used in the attack.
The Defense Forces of Ukraine had previously succeeded in striking this facility. On July 5, 2025, long-range drones were used in the attack. However, the measures proved insufficient, and the plant continued operations, supplying critically needed electronics for russian weaponry.
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VNIIR-Progress JSC is a key manufacturer of Kometa satellite navigation antennas. Given the importance of this facility, russians decided to install anti-drone cages over the entire building for protection.
The idea was that these cages would protect the building against Ukrainian long-range drone strikes by triggering the warhead to detonate prematurely, several meters away from the wall. The consequences would still have been severe, as the building itself has no other protection, but less severe than they would have been otherwise.
However, it was not long-range drones that struck VNIIR-Progress, but the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile.
Such cages would not protect the building or the equipment inside against cruise missile strikes, which would likely be unaffected by them. In addition, there are doubts about whether it would be effective against drones carrying large warheads, which could theoretically penetrate the cages and detonate on the opposite side.
Here, it was the FP-5 Flamingo missile that struck, likely carrying a warhead weighing approximately 1,150 kg. At the time of writing, it is difficult to assess the extent of the damage based on the available footage. However, it is clear that if the missile struck the building directly, that section of the plant simply no longer exists.
The last known successful combat use of the FP-5 Flamingo was on March 28, when one of the targets was Promsintez JSC, a leading explosives manufacturer, in the city of Chapaevsk in the Saratov Region, more than 850 km from the Ukrainian border.
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