# Zelensky Announces First Combat Use of Ukraine’s FP-7 Tactical Ballistic Missile

*Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 4:06 PM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-10-01T16:06:35.171Z (2h ago)
**Category**: conflict | **Region**: Eastern Europe
**Importance**: 9/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/19348.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Deck**: President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine has used its domestically developed FP-7 tactical ballistic missile in combat for the first time and calls for ramping up production. The move adds a new homegrown strike option to Kyiv’s arsenal as it faces intense Russian attacks and mounting losses in the air.

Ukraine has introduced a new domestically produced weapon into combat, with President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing the first use of the FP-7 tactical ballistic missile.

Zelensky made the statement on October 1, saying in a brief message: “Ukrainian tactical ballistics. FP-7. First combat use. Thank you for the result. Next — production. Glory to Ukraine!” In a separate post in Ukrainian, he shared footage of the missile’s first combat launch and added, “Thank you for the result. Next – production.”

Ukrainian channels circulated those images as evidence that the FP-7 has moved from testing to real operations. Officials have not disclosed where the missile was fired, what it targeted, or how much damage it caused. Russian authorities have not publicly confirmed being hit by an FP-7.

The FP-7 is presented as a tactical ballistic missile, designed to hit targets at longer range and higher speed than most artillery rockets. Ballistic missiles follow a high, arcing path and strike with significant kinetic force, which makes them difficult for some air defense systems to intercept. Even without confirmed performance data, the appearance of a Ukrainian‑built system of this class signals that Kyiv is trying to expand its ability to strike key Russian military sites, logistics nodes and infrastructure.

Ukraine has been showcasing the FP‑7 program abroad. At the DALO Industry Days 2026 event in Denmark, the FP-7 and a larger FP-9 missile were displayed, with Fire Point’s chief executive and chief technology officer, Iryna Terekh, photographed between the two systems. Reporting from the event described the FP‑7 and FP‑9 as Ukrainian ballistic missiles, underlining that Ukraine’s defense industry is positioning them as export‑ready products as well as tools for its own war effort.

Zelensky’s focus on “production” points to the larger contest of industrial capacity behind the battlefield. A domestically controlled ballistic missile program can, in principle, give Ukraine a degree of independence from foreign decisions on supplying long‑range weapons. That matters at a time when Russia is targeting Ukrainian defense factories with missiles and drones and Western capitals sometimes argue over the range and quantity of weapons they are willing to provide.

Russia is also adjusting. On the same day Ukraine trumpeted its new missile, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the loss of a MiG‑29 fighter jet and its pilot, Captain Marat Mambetov, during a combat mission. Mambetov, a 25‑year‑old flight commander with the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade “Ghost of Kyiv,” was conducting missile and bomb strikes on Russian forces when his aircraft was hit by a Russian missile. He ejected but did not survive.

That loss highlights the cost Ukraine continues to pay for every sortie and every new capability it brings into service. As it fields systems like FP‑7 and FP‑9, Ukraine is also investing in other long‑range strike tools. The Ukrainian company SkyFall has presented the Thor Hammer, a medium‑range attack drone with reported variants capable of ranges up to 350 kilometers and 600 kilometers, carrying a 40–50 kilogram warhead and using autonomous guidance based on artificial intelligence. SkyFall says the Thor Hammer has already been used in combat.

These parallel efforts suggest that Ukrainian planners expect a long war in which domestically produced missiles and drones will have to compensate for uncertain foreign supplies. For Russian commanders, that means factoring Ukrainian‑made FP‑7 and FP‑9 missiles, as well as long‑range drones like Thor Hammer, into air defense planning over occupied territory and possibly further inside Russia.

Key developments to watch now include whether Kyiv discloses more technical details about FP‑7, whether Russian sources start attributing specific strikes to the missile, and how quickly Fire Point and other Ukrainian firms can move from limited numbers to sustained production.