KYIV, Aug. 16 -- The missiles that struck a facility operated by Roscosmos in Samara early Saturday morning flew approximately 560 miles from Ukrainian territory. They were called Flamingo missiles. They were Ukrainian-made. The man who did more than anyone else to develop Ukraine's capacity to launch them learned about the strike from the sidelines.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the 35-year-old former defense minister who shaped Ukraine's turn toward drone and robotic warfare, was fired in mid-July following what Zelenskyy described as an irresolvable clash with General Oleksandr Syrskyi, then Ukraine's top military commander. Zelenskyy removed Syrskyi one week later, after tens of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in protest. Both men ar...