On 5 May 2026, in the night before the symbolic 9 May - the Victory Day parade in Moscow - Ukraine carried out one of the deepest strikes on Russian territory since the start of the invasion. The target - Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic, 1,200 kilometres deep inside Russia. The weapon - FP-5 Flamingo, a new Ukrainian missile with a range of 3,000 kilometres and a warhead of 1,000 kilograms.

What was hit

The main target was JSC VNIIR-Progress, a state institute producing components for the precision weapons Russia uses in its attacks on Ukraine. Specifically - the Kometa systems, antennas for jamming satellite, radio and radar signals used by Shahed drones, Iskander-K cruise missiles and guided glide bombs. In other words - Ukraine didn't strike randomly, it hit the heart of Russian electronic warfare.

Local residents posted photos and videos of fires at the plant. Governor Oleg Nikolayev confirmed one person injured. Around 7:30 in the morning local time, drones struck the same target again - a double tap. Rounds like this break both the material and the morale - same target, multiple times, in the same window.

Kirishi - the Russian oil giant under fire

Later the same day, the KINEF refinery in Kirishi - one of the three biggest in Russia - was attacked. Governor Alexander Drozdenko first confirmed a strike on the „industrial zone," then admitted - the target was the refinery itself. NASA's FIRMS fire-tracking system recorded multiple fire signatures. Kirishi processes 20-21 million tonnes of crude oil per year, and produces over 6 percent of Russia's total refined output - including military fuel.

Drozdenko claims 29 drones were shot down over the Leningrad region. The Russian Defence Ministry talks about 289 destroyed drones across multiple areas. Even taking half of that figure at face value, it tells you something about the scale - not one attack, but a coordinated offensive.

Moscow, Crimea, Voronezh, Kazan

Explosions were also reported in occupied Crimea, in the cities of Voronezh and Kazan, and - perhaps most alarming for the Kremlin - over Moscow itself. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced that five drones had been intercepted before reaching the capital. A few days earlier, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential tower seven kilometres west of the Kremlin, only three kilometres from the Russian Defence Ministry building. This is the deepest strike in central Moscow since the start of the invasion.

A minimum of 18 Russian airports were temporarily closed. Alarms sounded in areas up to 2,000 kilometres from the border. The Ukrainian military doesn't comment officially - but silence in this case speaks louder than a press conference.

What is the „Flamingo"

The FP-5 Flamingo, made by the controversial Ukrainian company Fire Point, has been in active use since summer 2025 - rarely at first, and from November 2025 with growing frequency. President Volodymyr Zelensky described it as „the most successful Ukrainian missile." The specs - 1,000 kg of explosive, 3,000 km range - mean that virtually all of European Russia is in range, and that Moscow can no longer claim its deep rear is safe.

The Balkans watch Russia lose its aura

For Balkan readers the question isn't whether Russia will respond - that will happen for sure. The question is - how much, and against whom. The 9 May parade, traditionally a showcase of Russian military power, will this year take place in the shadow of a heavy symbolic defeat. One drone over Moscow doesn't shift the military balance - but it shifts the narrative. And the narrative is precisely what the Kremlin rarely controls in front of its own audience.

The other thing - this jump in Ukrainian capability, with missiles reaching the Urals, complicates every peace plan already being floated in European circles. Who's going to offer peace when Ukraine has, for the first time, a weapon that lets it dictate terms? And why would Russia retreat, when every weakness in negotiations echoes through the North Caucasus, Tatarstan, Chuvashia - regions where Moscow already has to explain why Russian industrial sites are burning?

The Balkans watch this from afar. But the question here isn't about empathy or sympathy - it's about price. Every jump in Ukraine's military capability moves oil and gas prices. Every destroyed Russian refinery reduces supply on the international market. And the Balkans, having already cut Russian supply, pay the consequences both ways - higher bills and uncertainty for the winter ahead.