Russia has fired the Novator 9M729 missile at Ukraine over 23 times in recent months, according to Ukrainian officials.

The ground-launched cruise missile was at the center of a US-Russia dispute that prompted US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty – the Cold War-era pact banning ground-launched nuclear-capable missiles of intermediate range – during his first term in 2019.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said Russia has used the missile against Ukraine, according to a Friday report by Reuters – marking the first confirmation of its use.

Another senior Ukrainian official reportedly told Reuters that the missile was fired 23 times at Ukraine in recent months, starting on Aug. 21 – days after Trump’s Alaska summit with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

The source also said Kyiv recorded two 9M729 launches in 2022.

Reuters said it reviewed “images of debris” from the Oct. 5 strike on the village of Lapaiivka in western Ukraine’s Lviv region – the attack that killed a family of four, including a 15-year-old girl – which showed the 9M729 marking on “two missile fragments, including a tube containing cabling.”

A military source told Reuters that the missile flew 1,200 km (746 miles) from Russia during the attack.

Analysts told Reuters that while the results are not definitive, they are consistent with how experts believe a 9M729 missile would appear, given the secrecy of the program.

What is the INF Treaty?

The INF Treaty was a 1987 US-Soviet agreement that banned all ground-launched missiles with ranges of 500-5,500 km (311-3,418 miles).

In 2018, Washington accused Moscow of violating the pact by developing and deploying the 9M729 cruise missile – an allegation Russia denied, insisting the missile’s range did not fall under INF restrictions. The US argued it did, and the latest attacks, if confirmed, would directly contradict Moscow’s claims at the time.

The US State Department said it had raised concerns with Russia over 30 times since 2013 over the missile’s development, but without progress. NATO also warned at the time that the system posed a threat to European security in a statement.

“The 9M729 is mobile and easy to hide. It is capable of carrying nuclear warheads. It reduces warning times to minutes, lowering the threshold for nuclear conflict. And it can reach European capitals,” a later NATO publication says.

Citing the alleged violation, Trump formally withdrew from the treaty in 2019 during his first term, effectively ending it.

After the collapse of the INF, both the US and Russia accelerated the development of previously banned missile systems. The US then developed ground-based launchers for its Tomahawk missiles, recently sought by Kyiv.

Trump also announced the resumption of nuclear testing this week, though he did not reference the 9M729 missile.

What’s the Novator 9M729?

The Novator 9M729 (SSC-8 Screndriver) is a ground-based, intermediate-range, nuclear-capable cruise missile developed by Russia.

Given the program’s secrecy, there is little confirmed information about the weapon’s specifications.

However, the Missile Threat website, maintained by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that it is likely a ground-based variant of the naval Kalibr missile, which is commonly used against Ukraine.

Based on available information from Missile Threat and other open sources, here are estimates of the 9M729’s specifications:

• Manufacturer: Novator Design Bureau, an arms maker based in Russia’s Yekaterinburg
• Type / Role: Ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM), land-based
• Length: Approximately 6-8 m (20-26 feet)
• Diameter: Approximately 514 mm
• Payload: Single warhead; estimated to be 450 kg (990 lbs). Can carry conventional or nuclear warheads
• Reported Range: Moscow claims to be less than 500 km (311 miles), while Western assessment places it up to 2,500 km (1,553 miles)

Military experts told Reuters that the missile’s likely range allows Russia to launch strikes from deeper inside its own territory while expanding the pool of weapons it can use against Ukraine.

Western sanctions have complicated – though not fully choked off – Moscow’s ability to obtain the foreign components needed to produce advanced systems like missiles.