Valerii Riabykh, Development Director at Defense Express, stated that the situation on the battlefield is entering a very interesting phase. According to him, Ukraine’s Defense Forces have significantly enhanced their capabilities to defeat Russian occupying forces.
He noted that, particularly at the beginning of May, the number of destroyed Russian command posts increased, indicating Ukraine’s growing technological capacity. One notable example was a successful operation that destroyed three units of the Iskander missile complex division.
Riabykh emphasized that Ukraine has acquired all the necessary components to carry out such strikes and has integrated them using the Link system implemented in F-16 fighter jets.
He added that Ukraine’s Armed Forces have likely been using ballistic missiles against enemy targets for about a year. Many experts and analysts have been unable to identify the means used in certain strikes that hit enemy targets, suggesting that Ukraine may have been secretly testing its own ballistic weapons.
According to Riabykh, there are strong indications that Ukraine has already begun testing its domestic ballistic missile system under real combat conditions and may be entering serial production. He also recalled that President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly hinted at this development. Various signs pointed to it — particularly the fact that over the past year, military analysts were often unable to determine what exactly had struck targets deep inside enemy territory, which strongly suggests that these were live combat tests of a Ukrainian ballistic system.
