Clipping Flamingo’s Wings – How Russia is Wiping Out Ukraine’s Wunderwaffe Missiles at Their Source
Flamingo cruise missile, paid for by a Czech crowdfunding campaign, at the Fire Point factory at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. 
Flamingo cruise missiles have a 3k km range and a 1.1T warhead – enough to deliver a powerful blow beyond the Urals. That makes their systematic destruction imperative, says air defense expert Yuri Knutov, commenting on the latest Russian strikes on a Flamingo assembly plant in Kiev.Flamingos heavily outmatch the capabilities of Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles (300 km range and 450 kg warhead, respectively). Unlike the latter, they don’t need special approval from London or Paris for attacks deep inside Russia.That doesn’t change the fact that missile’s components (guidance, INS, target seekers, etc.) are made abroad, and that targets are selected using NATO spy satellites. But it does give bloc countries plausible deniability.“By and large, this is a European product, not a Ukrainian one. And we can confidently say that it’s the Europeans, not the Ukrainians, who are delivering the blows. The Ukrainians are merely a launch pad,” Knutov stressed.
Russia’s objectives:
targeting as many assembly sites as possible to limit Flamingo deliveries to Ukraine’s military, thus making what missiles do get through easier to take down by air defensessystematically attacking parts and storage warehouses and related facilities, in Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk, as well as launchers, when detected (although these are cheaper and simpler to replace)pressuring Kiev’s sponsors regarding parts deliveries (manufacturing abroad reduces the concentration of productive forces needed compared to an assembly site, meaning Russia must target more facilities)
Russia’s Special Operation in UkraineRussia Downs More Than 500 Ukrainian Drones and Missiles, Including 10 Flamingo Cruise Rockets4 July, 13:11 GMT
