The Russian Federation hit Ukraine with a prohibited 9M729 missile: a nuclear charge and a range of 2,500 km

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiga confirmed to the media that the first cases were recorded several months ago. The agency spoke with Sybiga, as well as with anonymous sources in the Ukrainian military. It is emphasized that this is the first official confirmation of the use of 9М729. It turned out that there were two such cases. The first case was in 2022: two launches took place. The next launches are after a three-year break, starting in August 2025.

Reuters sources added that the Russians have used 23 such missiles since August. The first launch in 2025 took place on August 21, the media wrote with reference to an unnamed interlocutor. The journalists established that on that day there was an airstrike in the village of Lapaivka: the Russians hit a residential building and killed four people. Lapayivka is a village in the Lviv region, located 600 km from the Ukrainian-Russian border.

At the site of the damage, two fragments were found, marked as a 9М729 missile, the article says. Media interlocutors reported that the 9M729 missile, launched by the Russians on October 5, flew 1,200 km. The maximum range of the 9M729 missile is 2,500 km, and because of this, in 2019, the United States declared a violation of the Intermediate-Range Missile Treaty. And Trump, due to the actions of the Russian Federation, announced the withdrawal of the United States from this agreement.

Sybiga emphasized that the strikes on Ukraine show Russian President Vladimir Putin's "disrespect" for Donald Trump's peace initiatives. In this context, they recalled the request to provide Ukrainians with Tomahawk missiles, an option that does not violate international restrictions.

"Russia's use of banned 9M729 missiles against Ukraine in recent months demonstrates Putin's disrespect for the United States and President Trump's diplomatic efforts to end Russia's war against Ukraine," Sybig was quoted as saying by the media. Meanwhile, William Albek, an expert from the "Pacific Forum" analytical center, explained what the 9M729 missile means, which appeared in the fourth year of the Russian war.

In his opinion, this is Putin's threatening signal to Europe and increased pressure on Ukraine. Former British defense attaché in Moscow and Kyiv, John Forman, agreed with him. Foreman reminded that the 9M729 is a carrier of nuclear warheads and threatens European security.

The 9M729 missile is a cruise missile of the Russian Armed Forces (according to the NATO classification - SSC-8), which is capable of flying a distance of up to 2,500 km and is launched from the 9K720 "Iskander-M" ground-based missile systems. The means of defeat was created in the design bureau "Novator" (Ekaterinburg). RosZMI said that it is probably a modification of the land-based version of the 3M14 Kalibr-NK missile and the R-500 (9M728) missile.

In 2017, Russia publicly stated that the weapon does not violate the treaty, and in 2019 it showed the product at the Patriot exhibition in the presence of 25 foreign journalists and Putin. . . . In October, the 9M729 missile appeared in the media: the "Military" portal received secret documentation from the Russian Federation with data on the volumes, nomenclature and cost of Russian long-range missiles that are used to hit Ukraine.