Overview
- Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha publicly confirmed combat use of the ground-launched 9M729, known by NATO as SSC-8.
- Reuters examined missile debris photos showing 9M729 markings, with experts including Jeffrey Lewis corroborating the identification.
- Evidence links a 5 October strike in the village of Lapaiivka that hit a residential building and killed four people to fragments of the missile.
- Washington maintains the system violates INF-era limits, while open-source assessments put its range at about 2,500 kilometers and note dual nuclear or conventional capability.
- Russia removed limits on intermediate-range deployments in August 2025 as Ukrainian General Staff reports continued high-volume Russian strikes across multiple regions.