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What is pretty in pink and gives Putin nightmares? Ukraine's new missile, which is set to change the game not only in Ukraine, but in all of Europe. Ukraine has just done something that not even the strongest European powers could do, and that means Russia has a serious problem. The ballistic missile strategy that the Kremlin had devised for Ukraine lies in tatters. Something pink and powerful is coming for Russia's most lethal missiles, and it's making Putin tear out what's left of his hair. It took just 30 seconds for Ukraine to showcase the last thing that Russia wanted to see. As the camera pans around, we see it for the
first time. The FP-7.X. Affixed to its launcher, the brilliant pink missile is in firing position. Pointing toward the sky and ready to fly, it's a monument to the ingenuity of Ukraine and Fire Point, which is the company behind so many of Ukraine's most important drones. It was Fire Point that developed the Flamingo, another pink weapon that is hitting Russia as we speak. The Flamingo is a cruise missile-drone hybrid capable of delivering 1,150 kilograms of explosive fury at about 3,000 kilometers. But the FP-7.X is…different. This isn't a missile designed to
hurt Russia. It was made to defend Ukraine and all of Europe. As the camera pans out, we see the final preparations for launch. And instruction is given, and the engines fire. A massive plume of smoke forms under the pink missile as it flies directly up, leaving a trail of flames in its wake. The footage switches to different angles. The missile continues its ascent and then streaks into the sky. No target is hit. But that wasn't the point. This was Fire Point's victory lap. The small clip that showcases what is coming for Russia. Finally, after years of
relying on Western help, Ukraine has built a ballistic missile interceptor that it believes will finally be the turning point in the aerial battle. Russia's last real weapon advantage over Ukraine is being mitigated. The one weapon that Ukraine needs more than any other has arrived, and it didn't come courtesy of the U.S. or any of Ukraine's European partners. Ukraine built this weapon itself, and it has changed the entire complexion of European air defense as we know it. Something has changed forever. And you'll understand why as we dig into what this new
missile is and what it represents. To the casual Ukraine war observer, the pink missile that Fire Point just demonstrated represents what appears to be the second known launch of Ukraine's FP-7 ballistic missile. That launch was accompanied by the FP-7's first fully guided flight, and it's a milestone for Ukraine. Even if we take air defense out of the equation for a moment, the FP-7 delivers homegrown ballistic missile capabilities to Ukraine. That already hurts Putin. Russia was supposed to be the only country that had a real ballistic missile threat. Whatever Ukraine could
do would come courtesy of its Western partners, which meant that Russia would always be able to stay ahead when it comes to stockpiles. But with the FP-7, Ukraine has changed everything. With a range of up to 200 kilometers and a maximum speed of Mach 4.3, the FP-7 is lethal. It can carry a warhead weighing 150 kilograms, and the missile has a maximum flight duration of 250 seconds, Militarnyi revealed in a September 2025 assessment. On its own, the FP-7 is a revolution for Ukraine. But what we see in the footage isn't just Fire Point's announcement that it has entered
the ballistic missile arena. What we saw is the FP-7, but not as we know it. The missile in Fire Point's video was the FP-7.X, not the original FP-7. That matters because it means two things. First, Fire Point is already at the point where it's tweaking its original FP-7 design so that the missile can be used for purposes other than striking Russia. Second, and linked to this fact, the FP-7.X is expected to form the basis of a Europe-encompassing air defense platform that is unlike anything that the continent, or Putin, has seen before. This wasn't just a missile
test. This was the early days of FREYJA in action. United24 Media reports that the footage Fire Point shared demonstrates how Fire Point's pink missile can adjust the path of its flight after launch, which is a critical ability for a missile to have if it's going to be used for air defense. The same outlet notes that Fire Point likely carried out several other test maneuvers that it didn't showcase in the video. That makes sense. The footage of the FP-7.X was a teaser for what is to come, not a piece of intelligence that Russia could use to figure out how Ukraine made the
missile. Send the warning. But don't reveal the secrets. This is a perfect strategy for Ukraine as it looks to send uncontrollable shivers up Putin's spine. Russia's leader would prefer for a very different 30 seconds to be delivering those shivers, and the fear he'll feel when seeing the FP-7.X in action is compounded by the knowledge of why Ukraine has developed its latest weapon. The pink missile wouldn't exist were it not for Putin's invasion, and neither would the FREYJA program for which it will serve a vital role. The FP-7.X isn't a standalone missile. It's part of a
much larger whole that encompasses much of Europe. The co-founder of Fire Point, Denis Shtilerman, revealed back in May, when he said that Ukraine's new pink missile will form the basis of a pan-European air defense system that delivers to Europe something that the continent would never otherwise have had without help from the U.S. And this isn't Ukraine working alone. Partnerships all over Europe have made the FP-7.X possible. The infrared semi-homing head loaded into the front of the missile is being developed by Fire Point and the German air defense manufacturer
Diehl Defense. For its long-range detection radar, either the SAAB Giraffe 8A/4A, Hensoldt TRML-4D, or the Thales Ground Master 400 will be used. None of these is made in Ukraine. All are available in Europe. And that's the point. Ukraine's pink missile is a solution to the very real ballistic threat that Russia poses to all of Europe. It's a sign that Putin's efforts to divide, to split Ukraine's allies, and minimize the aid that Ukraine receives have failed. And most importantly, the FP-7.X represents Ukraine's evolution from being a recipient of military
hardware and into a genuine partner to European allies that rely as heavily on tech developed in Ukraine in 2026 as Ukraine relied on Western tech when Putin first launched his invasion. Putin's goal was to subjugate. But all he did was create a military monster that Russia can't contain. In its analysis of FREYJA and the pink missile that serves as the program's foundation, Global Defense Corps reveals that one of the core principles behind the program is the reduction of the cost involved in tackling Russia's ballistic missile threat. The Kyiv Post
highlights the same point, as it notes that the FP-7.X is expected to cost substantially less than $1 million for each missile. With European funding and a series of partners that want to buy as many of these missiles as possible, Fire Point could hold the key to creating the sky shield that Europe desperately needs against Russia. Ukraine may also have a replacement for Patriot missile interceptors, which cost above $4 million each. Lethal enough to take out ballistic missiles at a quarter of the cost of the Patriot sounds like a good deal for Ukraine and its partners already.
And as strange as it sounds, even the choice of pink for the missile has a practical purpose. Fire Point hasn't chosen that color to humiliate Putin or because it's a trademark of the company after the development of the Flamingo. Pink is the pick because that color makes the missile easier to track, and will also help recovery teams locate debris after impact, ensuring that Ukraine can clear up before Russia has a chance to get its hands on the remains of Fire Point's new air defense missiles. Now, all of this is very exciting for Ukraine and Europe
as a whole. But there is a caveat to Fire Point's FP-7.X demonstration that needs to be mentioned. If Fire Point and Ukraine are to truly have a Russian ballistic missile killer on their hands, there are a few things that we need to see from the FP-7.X. The type of maneuverability needed to track and strike ballistic missiles is one of them. These types of missiles aren't like drones or cruise missiles. It isn't good enough for an interceptor missile to explode nearby. Hit-to-kill capabilities are a must, and for the FP-7.X to be a real threat to Russia's ballistic stockpile,
it needs to be maneuverable enough to score direct hits against fast-moving missiles. It looks like Fire Point's pink missile has the requisite speed. If that can be paired with proper course correction capabilities, Ukraine is in business. Assuming that the FP-7.X can move as well as it needs to move, the literal rise of the FP-7.X is massive, both in the context of the Ukraine war and Europe's defense against Russia. Why? Before we answer that question, this is a quick reminder that you're watching The Military Show. If this is the kind of insight you want to see, make
sure you're subscribed to the channel so you never miss a video. Let's start with Ukraine. Putin has created a severe ballistic missile problem for Ukraine that needs to be solved sooner, rather than later. As CNN reported on June 4, Russia has been ramping up its aerial strikes against Ukraine for a while now. It has had to. With Russia's ground campaign in 2026 being nothing short of disastrous, the only way for Putin to support his claim that the fall of Ukraine is inevitable is to ramp up Russia's aerial campaign. Russia is now at the point where it's launching around
8,000 Shahed-type drones at Ukraine monthly. However, it's ballistic missiles that represent the much bigger problem for Ukraine, and we can see that in the numbers. For instance, according to CNN - a Russian airstrike against Ukraine on June 2 involved 41 ballistic missiles. That's more missiles than Russia launched at Ukraine in all of May, and 30 of the 41 managed to touch down on Ukrainian territory. Ballistic missile interceptions are nowhere near the rate that Ukraine needs them to be. Ukraine's Ministry of Defense also highlighted the problem
when reporting on the performance of its air defenses in May. Drones were mostly dealt with. Ukraine achieved an interception rate of 91.73% for Russia's strike drones, amounting to 7,476 intercepts of 8,150 drones that Russia fired. Cruise and ballistic missile interceptions were much lower. Of 211 Russian missiles launched, Ukraine intercepted 112 for a rate of just over 53%. Gaps are forming in Ukraine's air defenses. Russia can sense them, and it's trying to take advantage. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, Russia is now
able to launch around 100 ballistic missiles per month while maintaining its existing stockpiles at a stable level. That's a major concern for Ukraine. With an approximate 50% interception rate, that means dozens of ballistic missiles could touch down on Ukrainian territory every month. The reason for this low interception rate comes down to a challenge that Ukraine has faced ever since Putin launched his invasion: Patriot missile stockpiles are never where Ukraine needs them to be. In a June 2 piece for The Guardian, Peter Beaumont revealed that there is now a
"window of vulnerability" that has been created in Europe as a result of Operation Epic Fury in Iran. About a third of the stockpiles of these interceptor missiles, amounting to an estimated 1,100 missiles, have already been burned through. Ukraine feels this problem more acutely than most. Not only are Patriot missiles extremely expensive, but they are now in short supply. Ukraine relies on the U.S. and its Western partners to deliver these much-needed missiles to deal with Russia's ballistic threat. But when those missiles are being used elsewhere, Ukraine can't get them. The
U.S. won't give up any from its stockpiles when it's still using them. There's also a knock-on effect for European countries, which now hesitate to provide more Patriot missiles to Ukraine because they don't know if and when they'll be able to replenish their stockpiles. Operation Epic Fury sent a shockwave through Europe's air defenses. The FP-7.X is being positioned as the solution to a clear dependence on U.S. missile interceptors that worries Europe and actively hurts Ukraine. If Ukraine were to just maintain the status quo, as Putin no doubt wants
the country to do, then this ballistic missile problem would never be solved. That's according to Ukrainian Air Force Command spokesperson, Yuriy Ihnat, who said on June 2 that limited global production of air defense missiles will mean that Ukraine will face a shortage of what it needs for as long as the war rages. At least, it will if Ukraine doesn't do something about it. The FP-7.X is Ukraine doing something. Operation Epic Fury sent a shockwave through Europe's air defenses. The FP-7.X is being positioned as the solution to a clear dependence on U.S. missile
interceptors that worries Europe and actively hurts Ukraine. However, behind Ukraine's immediate need for more air defense assets lies an even bigger issue. Europe is pretty much as reliant on the U.S. for its air defenses as Ukraine, which is why FREYJA exists in the first place. Europe is looking to decouple from the U.S. on the air defense front, which makes Ukraine's development of the FP-7.X as much about building a sky shield for all of Europe as it is about serving Ukraine's need to tackle Russia's ballistic missile assaults. Let's look toward a hypothetical future.
Somehow, Russia is finally able to defeat Ukraine. With his mission accomplished, Putin turns his attention toward the rest of Europe, especially the European NATO members that he claims cause Russia so many problems. That's a massive problem for Europe because it relies on the U.S. As Euromaidan Press points out, Europe, as a continent, doesn't make missile defenses at scale. Moves are being made to change that fact. On May 12, 13 European countries, including Ukraine, launched an anti-ballistic coalition under which the collaborative creation of the FP-7.X and its
supporting systems fall. But right now, there's too much reliance on U.S. hardware in Europe, which opens up that "window of vulnerability" that Beaumont talks about. The U.S.-made interceptor missiles that Europe needs to defend itself aren't coming anymore. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, rebuilding its missile stockpiles in all areas is going to be a multi-year project for the U.S., to the point where it won't be until the midpoint of 2029 that the U.S. will be back to its pre-Operation Epic Fury levels of Patriot interceptors. And that
assumes that Operation Epic Fury doesn't reignite. No peace agreement has been reached between the U.S. and Iran, and the ceasefire between the two nations still rests on a knife-edge. A rekindling of hostilities will burn through more Patriot missiles, which puts a U.S.-dependent European air defense strategy in an even worse position. Europe needs the FP-7.X as much as Ukraine. Without it and the FREYJA program, Russia's ballistic missiles could be the key to everything that Putin wants to achieve in Ukraine and Europe. Now, Ukraine has a solution that Europe couldn't
deliver to itself. And the best thing about the FP-7.X is that it may enter production much sooner than anybody could have anticipated. In a June 4 report, Interfax says that Shtilerman has hinted that Ukraine's new pink missile is close to entering production. "I expect that this summer, or at the latest in early fall, we'll begin test flights to Moscow. And since we never wait for approval and codification, but build production lines immediately, we never make one, two, or three copies of anything there-we immediately produce ten test copies. We'll make 10-20 missiles
there and start producing them. Then, once we've been codified, once they buy us, dozens will be produced there," Fire Point's co-founder declares. Shtilerman is talking about the FP-7 there. But the FP-7.X is based on that ballistic missile, which means that we may be looking at Ukraine's air defense game-changer entering production before the end of 2026. For Europe, this can't come soon enough. Russia has been ramping up its ballistic rhetoric, which makes the need for a counter more urgent than ever. In May, Putin was lauding the test firing of a new intercontinental
ballistic missile named the Sarmat. Russia's leader calls the Sarmat "…the most powerful missile in the world," and he says that it will enter combat service by the end of 2026. At the same time, Russia is openly threatening the Baltic states, and Putin has signed a law that permits him to invade any country if he is doing it to "protect Russian citizens" abroad. Between May 19 and May 21, Russia also held a shock exercise to test its strategic nuclear capabilities, which followed the test launch of a nuclear-capable missile on May 12. These are all very purposeful
signals that Putin is sending to Europe. Russia is laying the groundwork for a new war, and ballistic missiles would play a huge role in that conflict. The emergence of the FP-7.X has thrown a wrench into Putin's plans. Ukraine's pink missile is almost fully domestically produced, and the components that Ukraine can't make itself come from nations that have as vested an interest in protecting themselves against Russia as Ukraine has. U.S. dependence is being taken out of the equation. The Russian plan for Ukraine and Europe is being countered. For Putin,
this is more than the announcement of a new Ukrainian weapon. Fire Point's pink missile signals a wholesale change in Europe and Ukraine's air defense posture. And it's a change that could make Russia's ballistic missile threat a non-factor. But while the FP-7.X is still in the testing phase, another new Ukrainian weapon is ruining Russia's rear. The Morrigan is a reality, and it's the secret weapon that Ukraine has been using to penetrate deep into the occupied territories to shatter Russian logistics in Crimea. What is the Morrigan, and why is it so
important? Discover the answers to those questions in our video. And if you enjoyed this video, hit the subscribe button so you can keep track of all of the latest Ukrainian weapon developments.
