Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Secretly Conducted Two Wartime Rocket Launches Into Space, Reaching 204 Km Altitude
During an active war, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) quietly carried out two rocket launches that crossed into space, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker has now confirmed publicly.
Fedir Venislavsky, Chairman of the Subcommittee on State Security, Defense and Defense Innovation of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, disclosed the operations in an interview with RBC-Ukraine. He stated that both missions were conducted under then-GUR Chief Kyrylo Budanov and were recorded by technical monitoring systems.
The first launch crossed the 100 km Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. The second reached an altitude of 204 km. Venislavsky was explicit that these were not test flights or research exercises but actual combat missions with defined military objectives.
The same GUR working group also conducted a rocket launch from a transport aircraft flying at approximately 8,000 metres altitude. Venislavsky described this as the first government-operated air launch from European territory and only the second of its kind in history, following a comparable U.S. test in the mid-1970s.
The strategic purpose behind these programs extends beyond the launches themselves. Ukraine has cited the need to develop independent space-based capabilities, including early warning systems and secure communications, following the temporary disruption of Starlink access in early 2025. Venislavsky also pointed to Russia’s Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile as a primary threat these programs are designed to counter.
No specific dates for the launches were disclosed. The exact rocket systems involved have not been publicly identified.
Sources: RBC-Ukraine (original interview with Venislavsky), Defence Blog, Euromaidan Press, The Defense News
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