Reuters: Russia has attacked Ukraine with 9M729 missile, development of which led Trump to scrap nuclear deal with Moscow

Russia has begun using the 9M729 cruise missile to attack Ukraine, the secret development of which prompted US President Donald Trump to withdraw from a nuclear arms control treaty with Moscow.

Source: Reuters

Details: Reuters journalists spoke with anonymous sources and Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

Sybiha's comments are the first official confirmation that Russia has used the ground-launched 9M729 missile in Ukraine.

A second senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Russia has launched the missile at Ukraine 23 times since August.

A source added that Ukraine also recorded two launches of the 9M729 by Russia in 2022.

Russia's Ministry of Defence did not respond to a written request for comment.

The 9M729 prompted the US to exit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019.

Washington stated that the missile violated the treaty because it could fly beyond the 500 km range limit, although Moscow has denied this.

The Missile Threat website, developed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, states that the missile can carry either a nuclear or conventional warhead and has a range of 2,500 km.

A military source said that a 9M729 launched by Russia on 5 October flew over 1,200 km before striking Ukraine.

Quote from Sybiha: "Russia's use of the INF-banned 9M729 against Ukraine in the past months demonstrates Putin's disrespect to the United States and President Trump's diplomatic efforts to end Russia's war against Ukraine."

More details: The White House did not respond to specific questions about Russia's use of the 9M729. A few days ago, Trump ordered the US military to resume nuclear weapons testing, citing "testing programmes in other countries".

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry did not disclose further details or dates of 9M729 strikes.

A senior official said the attacks began on 21 August – less than a week after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.

Journalists have reviewed photos of debris from the Russian strike on 5 October that hit a residential building in the village of Lapaivka, Lviv Oblast, killing five people.

The images showed two pieces of the missile, including a cable-filled tube, marked as 9M729.

For reference: Intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles (INF) refer to ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 km, typically capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

The INF Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union was signed in Washington in 1987 and remained in force until 2019. At that time, the US government said Russia had violated the treaty by deploying the 9M729 missile system and announced its withdrawal from the treaty. In August 2019, Russia's Foreign Ministry formally declared the treaty had been brought to an end.

At the time, Putin warned that if the US deployed intermediate-range missiles in Europe, Russia would be forced to respond, although he claimed Moscow would not deploy such missiles first. The US and NATO have since stated that Russia has not honoured its self-declared moratorium, citing the deployment of the 9M729. Western officials insist the missile's range exceeds 500 km, which Russia denies.

Background:

• The US and Russia withdrew from the Cold War-era INF Treaty in August 2019 after mutual accusations of violations.
• In August 2025, Russian officials said they were abandoning the "self-imposed restrictions" on deploying intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles which it had declared after the collapse of the INF Treaty.

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