On Friday, June 6, 2025, Valentyn Badrak, a defense analyst and director of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, said in an interview with Ukrainian Espreso TV that in mid-May of this year, Ukraine reportedly launched a new ballistic missile at a target in Russia, which, after traveling nearly 300 kilometers, destroyed a Russian military command post.
Prototype of the Grom-2/Sapsan OTRK system transporter-launcher / Photo: VoidWanderer via Wikimedia Commons
“In May 2022, a new missile program was launched. However, the [Ukrainian] Ministry of Strategic Industries did not handle it well, despite it being a priority. The first successful tests finally took place in July. Later, President Zelensky specifically mentioned the ballistic missile and the potential to complete its development,” said Valentyn Badrak, referring to the Ukrainian president’s remarks from August 27, 2024.
Badrak added that the program has been properly managed since July 2024.
“A special deputy minister of defense, General [Anatolii] Klochkо, was appointed to oversee the entire missile program to date. The Ministry of Defense also established a dedicated Main Directorate for the Missile Program. I believe the choice of overseer was a good one, and it’s worth noting that this program differs from others — each missile system and type has its own curator and manager, which is a positive development.”
“As far as I know, the tests were conducted in mid-May and were considered highly successful: the missile flew nearly 300 kilometers and destroyed a Russian command post. It’s important to note that this was an actual combat use, which is extremely significant,” the expert added.
He emphasized that the missile is now entering serial production.
“Furthermore, it is said that the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Strategic Industries are currently well coordinated within the framework of this program. Previously, the Ministry of Strategic Industries faced serious delays. I can’t say exactly how many missiles will be produced monthly or annually, but I believe production will increase significantly. The missile’s warhead weighs over 400 kg — a very powerful payload. By comparison, the new American ballistic missile has a warhead weighing only 91 kg [referring to the Precision Strike Missile; PrSM – editor’s note]. It’s clear that this will be a powerful weapon for us. I hope we continue our efforts. The key is to scale up quickly and strategically,” Badrak concluded.
Missile of the Grom-2/Sapsan OTRK system / Photo: Telegram
Analysis
Although neither Valentyn Badrak nor President Volodymyr Zelensky specifically mentioned the name or designation of the system in their statements, the OTRK Grom-2/Sapsan tactical ballistic missile system (also known as Hrim-2), developed over many years as a successor to the outdated OTR-21 Tochka-U missiles, fits the description. However, the claim that a new program was launched in May 2022 may suggest that it builds on earlier experience.
It is worth noting that on November 2, 2023, a video interview was published on the Kyiv not Kiev YouTube channel with Brig. Gen. Serhii Baranov, head of the Main Directorate for Missile Forces, Artillery, and Unmanned Systems of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
He reported at the time that a missile test had been conducted in which a Grom-2/Sapsan prototype struck a target 700 km away with a training warhead. He added that many new weapons systems were in the prototype stage, but their introduction into service would be accelerated.
Following the outbreak of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war on February 24, 2022, there were several unconfirmed reports about the possible combat use of the Grom-2/Sapsan system by Ukraine. These initially surfaced as rumors following a Ukrainian strike on August 10, 2022, against the Russian airbase in Novofedorivka (formerly Saky-4) in occupied Crimea.
Later, in March 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed it had intercepted one such missile (along with three M142 HIMARS rockets) near the villages of Novoandriivka and Zelenyi Hai in Crimea. On April 8 and 22, 2023, Russian occupation authorities in Crimea and military bloggers alleged that Ukrainian forces had attacked Feodosia using these missiles. On May 6, Russia claimed to have shot down two more missiles over the peninsula. However, no target was identified and no evidence, such as missile debris, was presented — making it difficult to confirm whether the system had been fully operational at that time.
Shortly thereafter, on June 8, 2023, then-Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov stated that the program was ongoing and that the goal was to achieve a range of over 1,000 km.
Before the full-scale war, the last publicly available update on the progress of the OTRK Grom-2/Sapsan system appeared on February 19, 2021, via the Ukrainian defense outlet Defence Express, which cited ministry sources claiming that a contract for the system’s purchase would be signed by the end of the year. That contract, however, was never concluded.
To recall, based on available information, the Grom-2/Sapsan program has been under development since 2016, led by the state-owned design bureau KB Yuzhnoye named after Mikhail Yangel (OKB-586) in Dnipro and the Pavlohrad Chemical Plant. In early 2019, it was reported that Saudi Arabia would be the recipient, with deliveries of missiles expected by 2022 (which, as is now known, did not happen).
A battery was to consist of two transporter-launchers, each carrying two ballistic missiles, two resupply vehicles with four additional missiles, a battery-level command vehicle, and a battalion-level command vehicle. A prototype of the transporter-launcher was displayed publicly several times, along with a missile mock-up and a partially constructed prototype. The missile’s sustainer engine was also tested — but that was the extent of progress.
The 10×10 wheeled transporter-launcher, powered by a 600-horsepower Deutz diesel engine, had a combat weight of 21 tons and was designed by the Kharkiv Morozov Design Bureau (ChMDB) in cooperation with Belarusian company MZKT, initially for the Saudi customer. However, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense later stated it did not consider this chassis the primary option for the domestic program and favored a foreign solution.
The missile, visually similar to the Russian 9K720 Iskander-M, was ultimately expected to have a launch weight of 4,300 kg (earlier sources cited 2,500 kg). According to then-available information, it was designed to carry a conventional warhead weighing 480 kg, which could be high-explosive fragmentation, fuel-air explosive, cluster, or bunker-busting. Interestingly, the originally declared range was 280 km for the export version and 450 km for the domestic one. The missile was said to measure 7.2 meters in length, 1.0 meter in height, and have a diameter of 0.8 meters.