Palyanytsia - meet the Ukraine's new rocket drone

Palyanytsia - meet the Ukraine's new rocket drone

Паляниця ( ukr spelling) Ukraine says it has deployed a locally-made drone-missile weapon system against Russia for the first time, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday.

"The first and successful combat use of our new weapon took place today, a new class of weapon, the Ukrainian missile-drone Palyanytsia," Zelenskyy said during a speech to celebrate the country's Independence Day.

The word Palyanytsia refers to a type of rustic Ukrainian bread but it has also added symbolic significance because since the war started it has been used as a shibboleth to determine Ukrainians from Russians because of different pronunciation of the word.

Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin detailed in a Telegram post that the ‘Palyanytsya’ drone missile successfully targeted a military site in temporarily occupied territory.

“This is both a drone and a missile, given that its technical specs qualify it for both definitions. There will be more drone missiles, just as we have seen an increase in long-range strike drones, whose results are visible almost daily. The drone missile represents the next step in the evolution of Ukrainian defense technology,” Kamyshin wrote.