Meet the Palianytsia

Everything we know about Ukraine’s new homegrown ‘drone-missile’ — and Kyiv’s plans to use it on Russian territory

Last Saturday, in a speech marking Ukraine’s Independence Day, Volodymyr Zelensky announced the Ukrainian military’s first use of the Palianytsia, a domestic-made weapon he referred to as a “drone-missile,” against Russian forces. (The weapon’s name, which refers to a type of Ukrainian bread, is notorious for being difficult for Russians to pronounce correctly.) To learn more about the Palianytsia and what kind of impact it could have on the battlefield, Novaya Gazeta Europe spoke to Ukrainian reserve colonel Roman Svitan and a Russian military expert. Meduza shares the outlet’s findings, lightly edited for clarity, in English.

What is a drone-missile?

“Over the 2.5 years of the full-scale war, Russia has fired around 10,000 missiles of various types and more than 33,000 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on August 25. “We can stop the attacks on our cities by striking the carriers of these weapons — Russian aircraft at military airfields. On August 24, we successfully deployed our new weapon for the first time: the Palianytsia, a Ukrainian long-range drone-missile that we developed domestically for the purpose of destroying the enemy’s offensive potential. The number of drone-missiles will increase — just as our long-range strike drones have, with the results visible almost every day.”

Zelensky called the Palianytsia a “new method of retribution against the aggressor” and emphasized that its first use ended in a successful strike. “We hit the enemy,” he said. “I thank everyone who made this possible: all of the developers, manufacturers, and our warriors. I’m proud of you. It’s going to be hard for Russia — hard for them to say what hit them, and hard to defend against it. But very easy to understand why.”

Ukrainian Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin offered a few more details about the Palianytsia and its first use. According to him, the strike was against a Russian military target in occupied Ukrainian territory, not one within Russia’s borders. He also said the weapon shares characteristics with both missiles and drones and therefore “fits both definitions,” though he didn’t specify what these characteristics are.

“We have combat drones, drones for guiding artillery, and starting today, we have a brand new class of weapons: drone-missiles,” Kamyshin said. “A drone-missile is the next step in the evolution of Ukrainian defense technology.”

On August 25, the Ukrainian government fundraising platform United24 posted a video that contained images of the Palianytsia. According to the clip, the weapon is launched from a ground platform, features a turbojet engine, and has a range of about 600–700 kilometers (372–434 miles), which means there are about 20 Russian military airfields within its reach. Israeli military expert Serhii Auslender has reported that the drone-missile has a 50-kg warhead, though this has not been independently confirmed. Ukraine has not released information about the weapon’s navigation system.

The following day, after Russia carried out one of its largest attacks against Ukrainian cities since the start of the full-scale war, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said the assault “proves yet again that to achieve victory, we need long-range capabilities and the lifting of restrictions on strikes against enemy military targets.” He then vowed that Ukraine would respond using “weapons of its own production.”

A new challenge for Russian air defense systems

“Ukraine is a developed, industrialized country with a rich history of aircraft manufacturing as well as missile and turbine production,” a Russian weapons expert told Novaya Gazeta on condition of anonymity. “Zelensky has spoken about three new developments in the missile weapons field, and Palianytsia is just one of them. Ukrainian engineers have already succeeded in combining a drone with a missile before. In December 2022,Ukraine used repurposed Soviet Tu-141 Strizh reconnaissance drones to attack a Russian strategic bomber air base in the city of Engels, 600 kilometers (372 miles) from the Ukrainian border. These modified drones are outfitted with jet engines that accelerate them to supersonic speed. Ukraine has also converted S-200 air defense missiles and Neptune subsonic anti-ship cruise missiles for strikes on ground targets. Additionally, Ukraine’s military has developed a whole line of kamikaze drones whose range appears to exceed 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles).”

According to the Russian weapons expert, the Palianytsia’s turbojet engine will allow it to go significantly faster than ordinary drones, though it will likely be unable to break the sound barrier. Nonetheless, the weapon will likely be fast enough to pose challenges for Russia’s already porous air defense system. Russia’s Kalibr cruise missile is capable of traveling up to 800 kilometers per hour (about 500 miles per hour); it’s possible that the Palianytsia will be able to fly almost as fast.

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“Ukraine was where the best Soviet missiles were built: for example, the famous SS-18 Satan intercontinental ballistic missile,” Ukrainian reserve colonel and military expert Roman Svitan told Novaya Gazeta. “The famous Neptune [cruise missile] was built as the modernized version of the Kh-35 anti-ship missile with an increased fuel range. The Neptune contains a new version of the serially-produced TRDD-50AT turbofan engine. My assumption is that the Palianytsia has an improved analog. Essentially, this missile consists of a tube with an engine in the tail, a tank for TS-1 jet fuel, wings, a GPS navigation control system, and a warhead containing several hundred kilograms of explosive. Thanks to its simplicity, this kind of device is cheap to produce. I suspect we’re talking about $50,000–$100,000 per unit, whereas western cruise missiles cost upwards of $1 million per unit. The Palianytsia can be launched from any flat surface — for example, a road. The cruise missiles provided by Ukraine’s partners, meanwhile, can only be launched from planes.” Svitan said the Palianytsia could use the payload of FAB-250 high-explosion or cluster bombs, which Ukraine still has stockpiled in high quantities from the Soviet era.

“Jet engines are easily detectable on radar screens,” the Russian expert said. “However, the speed of the new weapon could allow it to successfully evade Russia’s anti-missile defenses. After all, it takes time to detect a flying target and launch an air defense missile at it. If multiple targets in Russia are attacked by a large number of Palianytsias at the same time, it will overload the air defense systems and allow some of the missiles to hit their targets. They’ve stated that the new missile is significantly cheaper than analogous ones. It’s likely that these weapons will have inertial navigation systems with satellite correction. This apparatus will cost less than more complex infrared homing heads.”

The endgame

If Ukraine can produce Palianytsias in industrial quantities, Russia will be forced to overhaul its entire air defense system, the Russian expert said. Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian airfields will likely lead Russia’s aerospace command to relocate its Su-34 bombers, which it uses to drop glide bombs on Ukrainian cities and military targets, further into Russia. Once these planes have been moved significantly further from the border, they won’t be able to carry out as many sorties as they do now, as the need for extra fuel will reduce their capacity to carry bombs. Furthermor, the Palianytsia could practically neutralize the threat of Russian attack helicopters, which simply won’t be able to reach the frontline zone from distant airfields. All of this would make Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure and military facilities even more effective.

Roman Svitan predicts Ukraine will launch mass production of Palianytsias as a way to attack Russian territory without violating the restrictions they face on using Western-provided weapons. According to him, the range and speed of the new weapons will allow Ukraine to strike numerous large-scale targets such as airfields, logistics hubs, ammunition and fuel depots, and concentrations of soldiers and equipment, among others.

Original story by Ilya Volzhsky for Novaya Gazeta Europe. English-language adaptation by Sam Breazeale.