Zelenskyy shows first Long Neptune missile launch on Russian territory

"Ukrainian Long Neptunes. We are doing more," the president's message states.

It became known today that on the night of November 14, Ukraine struck important targets on Russian territory. Long Neptune missiles were used for the strikes.

Long Neptune

Long Neptune (Neptune-MD) is a modernized version of the Ukrainian R-360 Neptune cruise missile. The original anti-ship missile was significantly upgraded to enable it to hit land targets at much greater distances.

The updated missile system was designated Neptune-D, and the missile itself was marked RK360L.

According to analysts, the Long Neptune's range is approximately 1,000 km, which is 3.5 times greater than the standard R-360 anti-ship version with a declared range of up to 280 km.

Experts also note another key change: despite the significant increase in range, the missile received a significantly heavier warhead — 260 kg compared to 150 kg in the base model.

Analysts describe this as an unusual decision, as increasing range is typically achieved by reducing the warhead's weight. In the case of Neptune-D, however, the developers managed to accomplish both goals simultaneously — extending the strike range and increasing the warhead's power.

In March 2025, the new Neptune missile had passed testing and was successfully deployed in combat. At that time, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that its strike range was about one thousand kilometers.

In August, Ukraine officially demonstrated the R-360 Neptune missile for the first time — the version referred to as Long Neptune. No official specifications were disclosed then.

Western analysts had identified four versions of Ukraine's Neptune missile, though experts at Defense Express expressed skepticism about this.

For more details about the new missile characteristics, see the full report by RBC-Ukraine.