Russia has reportedly attacked Ukraine with a secret, powerful missile that led U.S. President Donald Trump to leave a nuclear arms pact with the Kremlin during his first term, Kyiv says.
According to Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, Moscow has attacked the country, as well as other territories, with the ground-launched 9M729 missiles. Another senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Russia has fired the mighty weapon at Ukraine 23 times since August.
A military source also told Reuters that a 9M729 missile fired by Russia on Oct. 5 flew over 1,200 km (932 miles) to its impact in Ukraine.
“Russia’s use of the INF-banned 9M729 against Ukraine in the past months demonstrates (President Vladimir) Putin’s disrespect to the United States and President Trump’s diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Sybiha said in written remarks.
The missile can carry a nuclear or conventional warhead, and has a rande og 2,500 km, according to the Missile Threat website produced at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“If it’s shown that Russia’s using INF-range missiles, which could easily be nuclear, in Ukraine, then that is an issue for European security, not just Ukraine,’ said John Foreman, a former British defense attache to Russia and Ukraine.
According to Reuters, Russia has a variety of long-range missiles that can reach across Ukraine, including the sea-launched Kalibr and air-launched Kh-101. However, the 9M729 poses a different threat.
“This gives them slightly different attack axes, which is difficult for air defenses, and it increases the pool of missiles that are available to the Russians,” Jeffrey Lewis, a Distinguished Scholar of Global Security at Middlebury College, said.
The renewed concerns come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed to obtain long-range Tomahawk missiles— which Kyiv had deemed as possible game-changers during the war— from Washington.
During a recent lunch between Trump and Zelensky at the White House, the American president expressed he hoped to resolve the war “without thinking about Tomahawks,” adding that the weapon is one his country “needs.”
“You go by the battle line, wherever it is. Otherwise, it’s too complicated. You’ll never be able to figure it out. You stop at the battle line,” Trump told reporters after he called for Kyiv and Moscow to “stop the war immediately.”
“And both sides should go home, go to their families, stop the killing. And that should be it,” he added, saying he shared that sentiment with both Zelensky and Putin.