President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the first combat deployment of a domestically produced Ukrainian ballistic missile could occur as early as this fall. Speaking during a national telethon on Saturday, Aug. 8, Zelensky was asked if the public should believe claims by the Ukrainian defense company Fire Point that its ballistic missile could see combat this fall.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “You have to believe it,” Zelensky replied. While expressing confidence in the weapon’s initial combat debut, the president emphasized that widespread deployment will require significant international cooperation. “As for mass application, I cannot say, because there are things that do not depend on Ukraine. It is like the ballistics of the Russians – there are elements from other countries. The same with our ballistics – there are few, but there are some elements from other countries,” Zelensky explained. “When we talk about mass application, we must know that there must be a supply of a large number of such elements from other countries. Therefore, it depends on readiness, contracts, payments, and many different things.” Despite the supply chain hurdles, Zelensky praised the developers. “In any case, the designers of [Fire Point] – we have no one closer to ballistics than them.” Fire Point’s dual-purpose FP7 program Zelensky’s comments align with the development of Fire Point’s FP7 missile program.