Alexander Liev

Today the President officially confirmed the combat use of the Ukrainian ballistic OTRK "Sapsan". This news holds special weight for me.

In August 2022, while heading the Department of Military-Technical Policy, Development of Armaments and Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, I took responsibility for signing the first state contract with the State Enterprise "KB Pivdenne" for the procurement of the newest operational-tactical missile system 1KR1 "Sapsan". I developed, concluded, and signed the state contract, and ensured the prepayment. After that — control of execution, meetings, resources, deadlines, and coordination of a large cooperation effort that stretched across the entire country.

Responsibility is always personal.

I am sincerely delighted to be involved in the real strengthening of our AFU. In 2023, we saw the result for the first time. In 2024, the enemy felt this result firsthand. In 2025 — the complex reached systematic application, and production became serial. This is veeery good! For a ballistic OTRK - this is a colossal pace!

What is OTRK "Sapsan" (1KR1): A new generation Ukrainian operational-tactical missile complex. A solid-fuel ballistic missile with a high-precision guidance system.

Key TTX:

• Strike range: up to 500 km
• Missile mass: ~3,500 kg
• Warhead mass: 500 kg
• Flight speed: up to $2,300 \text{ m/s}$ (Mach 7)
• Circular Error Probability (CEP): up to 10 m
• Guidance system: – inertial – satellite correction – several types of homing heads developed by "Pivdenne" (optoelectronic, radar — for different types of targets)
• Time to launch readiness: less than 10 minutes
• Time to fold up after launch: 4 minutes

This is a system maximally close to modern global OTRKs, created inside Ukraine and fully controlled by the state.

Why is this critically important for the AFU?

1. Strike depth up to 500 km. This means the destruction of rear bases, command posts, air bases, and logistics.
2. High accuracy. The OTRK does not work "by area", but targets the most valuable assets precisely.
3. Sovereign technology. No "permissions" from partners, no MTCR restrictions for internal use. Ukraine decides for itself when and where its missile operates.
4. Serial production. The experiments are over. This is a real industrial series. By the way, the price now also favorably distinguishes our Sapsan from its NATO counterparts.

I am grateful to the "Pivdenne" team and all cooperation enterprises (Kharkiv, Pavlohrad, Kyiv, Dnipro) that created this weapon. And I am grateful to fate for having the honor of being the one who took responsibility at the start and saw the contract through to completion.

Ukraine is doing what changes the course of the war. And it is doing it with its own hands.

Separately, I want to mention the responsibility of the state customer. During my work at the Ministry of Defense in 2022–2023, I concluded and organized the execution of 440 state contracts worth almost 500 billion hryvnias. Half a trillion — a figure that frightens those who have never faced the scale of defense procurement during wartime. Most of these contracts have already been executed or are in execution. 99% are successful, despite the fact that they were concluded in the conditions of 2022, under pressure, with destroyed supply chains and total uncertainty.

There are a few problematic contracts — the suppliers failed to deliver, did not return the money, and legal proceedings are currently underway. I was the one who introduced strict sanctions for such cases, and these mechanisms are now giving the state the legal tools for recovery. But in our system, responsibility works like this: if something is failed — the customer, the one who signed, is to blame. A kind of presumption of guilt. If it is executed — no one remembers the customer.

This is a fact. And that is why today's success of "Sapsan" has a special meaning for me. This is another of the majority of contracts where responsibility, risk, and result converged correctly.

(for the vigilant: all information in this post is in open sources, I am not revealing any secrets, I am not writing anything unnecessary. Do not worry.)

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