# OPEN LETTER: FP-9 at 855 km — Putin, Moscow is now within range of Ukrainian missiles

> Vladimir Putin, when you ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, you had calculated a victory in 72 hours. You believed Kyiv would fall before the world had time to react. You believed the Ukrainians would flee or submit. You believed Russia was too large, too powerful, too nuclear to be seriously challenged. That calculation was wrong. And now, in June 2026, you are

- Author: Maxime Marquette
- Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co)
- Section: Open letter
- Published: 2026-06-29
- Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/lettre-ouverte-fp-9-a-855-km-poutine-moscou-est-desormais-a-portee-des-missiles-

## Key takeaways

- The FP-9 is in development with a targeted range of about 855 km, with tests scheduled for summer and autumn 2026, which would place Moscow within reach.
- Fire Point has advanced from the Flamingo FP-5 cruise missile (900 km range, 8 confirmed strikes in 2026) to the FP-7 interceptor and the FP-9, and has a solid-fuel plant in Denmark.
- Zelensky's line "We will not die in silence" is presented as an articulated deterrence doctrine, linked to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
- A Concept for Missile and Artillery Forces, approved by Syrskyi in June 2026, sets a goal of Ukrainian-made systems with ranges up to 2,000 km by 2030.
- The author argues that the war has produced the opposite of what Putin intended, and that the FP-9 strengthens Ukraine's position in any future negotiations.

## Introduction: This letter is addressed to you, Vladimir Putin

### What you did not foresee in February 2022

**Vladimir Putin**, when you ordered the invasion of **Ukraine** in **February 2022**, you had calculated a victory in **72 hours**. You believed **Kyiv** would fall before the world had time to react. You believed the **Ukrainians** would flee or submit. You believed **Russia** was too large, too powerful, too nuclear to be seriously challenged. That calculation was wrong. And now, in June **2026**, you are living with the consequences of that mistake — in the form of a Ukrainian ballistic missile in development whose range approaches **855 km**, sufficient to reach the **Kremlin** from Ukrainian territory.

I write this letter not to threaten you — that is not my role. I write it to name a reality you can no longer deny: the **Ukraine** you set out to destroy is in the process of building a domestic ballistic missile arsenal that is redefining the strategic balance of this conflict. The **FP-9**, developed by **Fire Point**, is scheduled for tests in the summer and autumn of **2026**. Its range of **855 km** puts **Moscow** within reach of an entirely Ukrainian vector. And this is only the beginning.

### A letter to history as much as to a man

This letter is also addressed to all those who, around **Putin**, continue to fuel this war — the generals, the oligarchs, the propagandists, the industrialists producing the missiles that fall on Ukrainian cities. **Ukraine** will not die in silence. **Zelensky** has said it. The **FP-5**, **FP-7**, and **FP-9** prove it. This open letter is the testimony of a columnist who has followed this conflict hour by hour and who sees in the **FP-9**, not a provocation, but the logical and deserved consequence of four years of aggression.

I do not celebrate destruction. I observe that **Ukraine** has the right to defend itself, to deter, and to respond. And that developing a national ballistic strike capability is the most legitimate exercise of that military sovereignty.

*I don't know whether Putin reads columns written by Canadian journalists. But I write this letter because words serve a documentary function: in ten or twenty years, when historians analyze this moment, I want it recorded somewhere that the international community watched with clear eyes what was happening — and that many of us understood exactly what was at stake.*

## The FP-9: a Ukrainian ballistic missile with an 855 km range

### Fire Point and the Ukrainian missile revolution

In just a few years of war, the Ukrainian company **Fire Point** has become one of the most extraordinary defense startups in modern military history. Starting from nothing in **2022** or shortly after, it delivered the **Flamingo FP-5** — a cruise missile with a range of **900 km**, already used in **8 confirmed strikes** in **2026**. It developed the **FP-7**, an anti-missile interceptor that reached an altitude of **25 km** during testing — comparable, according to data from **Eurosatory 2026**, to the performance of the American **Patriot**, but at a cost of **$700,000** versus **$3.8 million** for an equivalent American missile.

And now the **FP-9** — a ballistic missile in development targeting a range of approximately **855 km**. **Zelensky** confirmed that **Fire Point** is advancing toward mastery of ballistic missile production, with the **FP-7** and **FP-9** being prepared for serial production. Tests on the **FP-9** are scheduled for the summer and autumn of **2026**. If those tests succeed, **Ukraine** will have a domestic ballistic strike capability that no one imagined possible four years ago.

### Why 855 km changes everything

The **855 km** range of the **FP-9** is a strategically loaded figure. **Moscow** lies approximately **800–850 km** from the Ukrainian border, depending on the point of departure. A Ukrainian ballistic missile at that range can therefore reach the Russian capital — on a ballistic trajectory far harder to intercept than a drone or cruise missile. Ballistic missiles fly higher and faster, and require specific defense systems that **Russia** has not deployed in sufficient numbers to cover its entire territory.

Moreover, **Fire Point** has established a solid-fuel production plant in **Denmark** — giving it a manufacturing capability independent of the supply chains that could be disrupted on Ukrainian territory. That industrial foresight signals a serious, well-funded program with a long-term vision — not a strategic communications announcement.

*Fire Point building a solid-fuel plant in Denmark — that is long-range industrial planning. This is not the sign of a company improvising under the pressure of war. It is the sign of a team building to last, building to produce at scale, building to give Ukraine a permanent strategic capability. I find that both impressive and reassuring for European security.*

## Zelensky's warning: "We will not die in silence"

### An articulated doctrine, not hollow rhetoric

**Zelensky** warned **Putin** about the creation of Ukrainian ballistic missiles with words that are more than a declaration: **"We will not die in silence."** That phrase distills a doctrine: **Russia** must understand that every strike on Ukrainian territory will be answered on Russian territory. Every factory producing missiles to bomb **Kharkiv** can be hit. Every military installation can be targeted. And soon — if the **FP-9** delivers on its promise — with homegrown ballistic missiles.

This doctrine of **active deterrence** is Ukraine's answer to the impossibility of nuclear deterrence. **Ukraine** surrendered its nuclear weapons in **1994** in exchange for security guarantees that proved worthless against **Russia**. It is now rebuilding a long-range conventional deterrent capacity autonomously. The **FP-9** is, symbolically and strategically, the belated answer to the broken promises of the **Budapest** Memorandum.

### The 2030 missile-artillery concept: an integrated architecture

The **FP-9** is not an isolated development — it is part of the **Concept for the Development of Missile and Artillery Forces approved by Syrskyi** in June **2026**. That strategic document defines Ukraine's roadmap to **2030**: development and serial production of domestic ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of up to **2,000 km**, a gradual transition toward Ukrainian-built systems, and the retirement of aging Soviet systems incapable of modernization.

That integrated architecture signals something essential: **Ukraine** is not planning only for the remaining duration of this war. It is planning for its long-term security, for the coming decade, for a post-war world in which it must maintain its deterrence against a **Russia** that remains an existential threat. The **FP-9** is one brick in a national security edifice that **Kyiv** is building for future generations.

*Ukraine is building its national conventional deterrent because the international community failed to provide it with a credible one. The 1994 Budapest guarantees were promises on paper. The FP-9 is metal and solid fuel — far more reliable. I am not saying it is a good thing that nations need arsenals to protect themselves. I am saying that in this imperfect world, it is necessary.*

## What Putin still does not understand: the irreversible damage

### The transformation the war has produced

There is a deep truth in this war that **Putin** seems incapable of absorbing: by attacking **Ukraine**, he triggered exactly what he claimed he wanted to prevent — the emergence of an independent and formidable Ukrainian military power. **Ukraine** in **2026** has a national defense industry, operational long-range cruise missiles, a ballistic missile in testing, an interceptor comparable to the **Patriot**, and a drone manufacturing output growing at **+12.7% per month**.

In **2022**, **Ukraine** had none of this. The Russian threat created precisely the Ukrainian military capability that **Putin** claimed to fear. That is the tragic paradox of this war: the aggression generated the very response it sought to prevent. And that transformation is irreversible. Even if the war ended tomorrow, **Ukraine** would not disarm. It would consolidate, develop, and extend the military capacity built under fire.

### The letter history will write about you

**Putin**, the history you intended to write — the reconstruction of a Russian imperial sphere of influence, the submission of **Ukraine**, the demonstration that democracies are weak — that is not the history being written. The history being written says this: a Russian leader launched a war that transformed **Ukraine** into a military power, solidified **NATO**, accelerated the accession of **Finland** and **Sweden**, exhausted the Russian army, created fuel shortages in **15 Russian regions**, and ended with the development of a Ukrainian ballistic missile capable of reaching **Moscow**.

That is not the glory you were seeking. And this open letter is not a verdict — it is a documented record. The war you chose to wage is producing the opposite of what you intended. The **FP-9** is its most eloquent proof.

*I hold no hatred for the Russian people. I hold anger toward a regime that dragged them into a war of aggression whose bill they were already starting to pay at the gas pump. And I hold admiration for a Ukrainian people who, rather than bending, built ballistic missiles in response. That is what resistance looks like. That is what national dignity looks like.*

## The Western response: from hesitation to necessary clarity

### The FP-9 and the debate over weapons ranges

The development of the **FP-9** arrives at a moment when the Western debate over which weapons to supply **Ukraine** — and what strike ranges to permit — remains politically sensitive. Some governments continue to impose restrictions on using their own systems against Russian territory. The **FP-9**, like the **Flamingo FP-5**, is Ukraine's answer to those restrictions: build your own weapons and depend on no one's permission to conduct your own defense.

That operational sovereignty is healthy and necessary. It also relieves Western allies of some of their diplomatic anxiety: when **Ukraine** strikes with its own missiles, the allies are not directly implicated in the decision. That decoupling is strategically convenient for everyone — and it makes the question of range restrictions on Western weapons progressively less relevant as **Ukraine** develops its own capabilities.

### Eurosatory 2026: Ukraine takes its place in European defense

The **Eurosatory 2026** exhibition in **Paris**, where more than **80 Ukrainian companies** presented their systems (compared to just **5 stands** in **2024**), gave concrete shape to that integration of the Ukrainian defense industry into the European architecture. The **Fire Point–HENSOLDT** cooperation on the **FREYJA** anti-missile system, the partnerships with **MBDA** on the **Neptune** platform, the agreements with French, Swedish, and Czech companies — all of it weaves a fabric of industrial integration that makes **Ukraine** irreplaceable in the European defense landscape.

When the **FP-9** enters serial production — probably in **2027** if the summer and autumn **2026** tests are conclusive — it will not simply be a Ukrainian weapon. It will be the product of an industrial ecosystem that ties **Ukraine** to **Europe** structurally. That is also the most concrete answer to the question of Ukrainian security after the war: not guarantees on paper, but integrated defense industries.

*80 Ukrainian companies at Eurosatory versus 5 in 2024 — that sixteen-fold increase in two years says it all. Ukraine is no longer a country that receives weapons. It is a country that manufactures them, sells them, and co-develops them with Europe's leading defense firms. That transformation is one of the most positive and most lasting consequences of this terrible war.*

## The 2030 concept: the architecture of a Ukrainian national arsenal

### A roadmap to 2,000 km range

The **Concept for the Development of Missile and Artillery Forces** approved by Commander-in-Chief **Syrskyi** in June **2026** traces an ambitious and coherent roadmap. By **2030**, **Ukraine** aims to possess a national long-range strike capability covering up to **2,000 km** — encompassing cruise missiles and ballistic missiles of Ukrainian manufacture. That architecture rests on a gradual transition from Soviet artillery systems to modern Ukrainian systems, and on the integration of drones into a combined-strike doctrine.

This is not wishful thinking. It is a strategic document approved by the chain of command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with identified milestones, priorities, and investments. The **FP-9** is a key element — but it sits within a broader whole that also includes improved reconnaissance capabilities, reduced dependence on foreign ammunition supplies, and the creation of a modern artillery-reconnaissance system.

*A national missile architecture reaching up to 2,000 km — formally approved by the Ukrainian command. This is an institutional commitment, not a political promise. Ukraine is equipping itself with a national long-range strike doctrine, independent of foreign deliveries. It is the lesson drawn from Budapest 1994 and the Western hesitations of 2022–2025: never depend on the goodwill of others for your own survival.*

## Fire Point and the challenge of serial production

### From prototype to industrial production

The transition from prototype to industrial production is one of the hardest challenges in the defense industry. **Fire Point** has already demonstrated it can be done with the **Flamingo FP-5** — which went from concept to **8 confirmed strikes** in less than two years. The same trajectory is expected for the **FP-9**, with tests scheduled for the summer and autumn of **2026** and a potential entry into serial production in the months following, should results prove conclusive.

The solid-fuel plant established in **Denmark** is an investment that anticipates mass production. Solid fuel is one of the most critical and most difficult components to manufacture for ballistic missiles — the fact that **Fire Point** has secured that capability outside **Ukraine** reveals industrial planning that goes well beyond a simple test program.

*A solid-fuel plant in Denmark for Ukrainian missiles — that is precisely the kind of industrial integration that makes Russian attempts to isolate Ukraine futile. The Ukrainian missile program is now anchored in several European countries simultaneously. Destroying one part of that infrastructure will not destroy the program. This is structural resilience, built deliberately.*

## The diplomatic dimension: ballistic missiles and peace negotiations

### Striking farther to negotiate from a position of strength

The question of the **FP-9** and Ukraine's ballistic strike capability cannot be separated from the diplomatic context of the search for an end to the war. **Zelensky** has always held that the best negotiating position is a position of military strength. An operational **FP-9** capable of reaching **Moscow** is a negotiating argument that no amount of external diplomatic pressure can erase — not even **Trump**'s pressure for a quick peace.

This is the logic of conventional deterrence: you negotiate from a different position when you can strike your adversary's capital than when he can strike yours but you cannot reply in kind. **Ukraine** has endured that asymmetry for four years. The **FP-9** is the instrument through which it reverses it — or at least reduces it. And reducing that asymmetry is precisely what can make a lasting peace possible, because it makes Ukrainian resistance credible over the long term.

*I wonder whether Putin truly grasps what the FP-9 means for future peace talks. A Ukrainian ballistic missile capable of reaching Moscow changes the geometry of any negotiation. This is no longer Ukraine asking for mercy. This is two powers holding each other at risk — one of which has everything to gain from peace and the other everything to lose from continuing.*

## Conclusion: this letter as a historical document

### To Putin and to the Russians who supported him

To you, **Putin**, and to all those who supported this war from the comfort of their Moscow apartments, from their factories along the **Volga**, from their posts inside the state apparatus: the **FP-9** is the documented answer to your aggression. **Ukraine** turned your attack into a lesson. It turned its desperation into innovation. It turned its limitations into military sovereignty. And the ballistic missile that will soon be tested on the Ukrainian steppes is the direct product of your choices.

I do not write out of hatred. I write out of documentary necessity. Because in a few years, when people try to understand how we arrived here, it will matter that people like me named this moment clearly, without illusion, with the full weight of the facts. The **FP-9** is not a threat — it is a consequence. And consequences never lie.

### To Ukraine and its allies

To **Ukraine** and those who support it: this ballistic missile in development is a symbol of resilience that deserves to be named and recognized. Not because war is beautiful — it is horrific, and every death is a tragedy. But because the capacity of a people to rise from an existential assault and build its own deterrent deserves acknowledgment. **Ukraine** in **2026** is not the Ukraine of **2022**. It is stronger, better armed, more sovereign. And this letter is its testimony.

*In ten years, I will reread this open letter with a particular emotion. Either because the war will have ended and the FP-9 will have become a symbol of post-war Ukrainian deterrence — or because the war continues and the promised missiles have been deployed. In either case, the words I wrote here will be true. And that is all I ask of my work.*

**By Maxime Marquette, columnist**

## Columnist's transparency note

### Editorial stance

I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies.

I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events.

### Method and sources

This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here.

**Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies.

**Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations.

When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**.

### Nature of the analysis

The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted.

My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors.

This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text.

## Sources

### Primary sources

- [Militarnyi — Syrskyi approves concept for missile forces and artillery — June 9, 2026](https://militarnyi.com/en/news/ballistic-missile-artillery-syrskyi-concept/)

- [UNN — Zelensky warns Putin about Ukrainian ballistics — June 2026](https://unn.ua/en/news/we-will-not-die-in-silence-zelenskyy-warns-putin-about-the-creation-of-ukrainian-ballistics)

- [News Ukraine RBC — Ukrainian new ballistic missile — June 2026](https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/ukrainian-new-ballistic-missile-could-raise-1781649097.html)

### Secondary sources

- [Washington Times — Ukraine soon to test domestic ballistic missiles — June 8, 2026](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jun/8/ukraine-soon-test-domestic-ballistic-missiles-capable-striking/)

- [UNN — Eurosatory 2026 showed Ukraine's new role in European defense — June 24, 2026](https://unn.ua/en/news/from-ai-to-missiles-the-international-exhibition-eurosatory-2026-showed-ukraines-new-role-in-european-defense)

- [Army Recognition — Ukraine expands Eurosatory 2026 presence to 80 defense firms — June 2026](https://www.armyrecognition.com/archives/archives-defense-exhibitions/2026-archives-news-defense-exhibitions/eurosatory-2026/ukraine-expands-eurosatory-2026-presence-from-10-to-80-defense-firms-amid-war-with-russia)

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Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/lettre-ouverte-fp-9-a-855-km-poutine-moscou-est-desormais-a-portee-des-missiles-