Ukraine Unveils New Neptune Cruise Missile, Used to Strike Russia

Ukraine has unveiled what appears to be an upgraded version of its homegrown Neptune cruise missile, a long-range strike weapon credited with taking out both Russian warships and high-value land targets.

Footage published Sunday by the state-run Zbroya weapons portal shows what looks like a larger, upgraded model of the original Neptune, among other domestically produced weapons. The video footage was released on Ukraine’s Independence Day.

“To be independent, you need to be strong. And the strong one is the one who has weapons,” Zbroya wrote on social media.

The R-360 Neptune is a subsonic truck-launched weapon made by the Ukrainian defense manufacturer Luch Design Bureau. It was initially designed as an anti-ship missile based on the Soviet-era Kh-35 and has since been modified to strike land targets.

The original Neptune cruise missile had a range of nearly 200 miles. Kyiv, however, began working on an upgraded version amid Russia’s full-scale invasion. Ukraine’s former defense minister, Rustem Umerov, said last year that the munitions were being modified to strike at longer ranges and that serial production had been expanded.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in March that the new cruise missile, which he identified as the “Long Neptune,” had been tested and successfully used in combat. He said the missile had a range of 1,000 kilometers, or 620 miles, which exceeds the reach of missiles that Kyiv has received from its Western partners and came without restrictions on use.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, a Ukrainian government platform, released a photo on Monday of the 1,000-kilometer-range Neptune anti-ship missile. The munition seems to match the one in the Zbroya footage.

Ukraine has used Neptune missiles in a series of high-level strikes against Russia, including in an attack on the Black Sea Fleet flagship, the cruiser Moskva. Kyiv has also used the missile to attack air defense batteries, oil facilities, and other military assets.

Ukraine has invested heavily in developing homemade long-range drones and missiles, like the Neptune, amid limitations on the use of Western weapons for strikes across the border against targets in Russia.

Ukraine has used its arsenal of domestically produced drones and missiles to hit Russian bases, ammunition storage sites, energy facilities, and logistics hubs, sometimes hundreds of miles behind the front lines.

Earlier this month, Ukraine revealed a new cruise missile — called the Flamingo missile — that is said to be able to carry a 1,000-kilogram (2,200-pound) warhead and have a range of around 1,800 miles, around three times the reach of the new Neptune.

Zelenskyy said last week that the Flamingo missile could enter mass production by February, eventually giving Ukraine another tool in its arsenal of long-range weapons.