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Author: https://imgur.com/a/o2g8xYK
Russia’s Treaty-Busting Screwdriver Cruise Missile Used Against Ukraine: Officials
 The accounts suggest the controversial 9M729 cruise missile has been used dozens of times since August.
 
 
Thomas Newdick
 
 
Published Oct 31, 2025 3:50 PM EDT
 
 
Russia has used its ground-launched 9M729 cruise missile to strike targets in Ukraine multiple times in recent months. This is the conclusion of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and it also tallies with reports from independent analysts who have been tracking the use of the missile, the original deployment of which led to the United States walking away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, Treaty in 2019.
 
 
“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,” Sybiha said.
 
 
Sybiha’s comments provide the first confirmation that Russia has used the 9M729 missile — known to NATO as the SSC-8 Screwdriver — in combat.
 
 
Another, unnamed Ukrainian senior official told Reuters that Russia had fired the 9M729 against targets in Ukraine 23 times since August 21 of this year. The same source said that the missile had been launched on two other occasions since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; it is not immediately clear if these were also combat launches, but a combat evaluation is a strong possibility.
 
 
Notably, the Kremlin had, on August 4, said it would no longer limit where it deploys nuclear-capable missiles with ranges in excess of the former INF Treaty. That would suggest something of a change in policy, publicly at least, prior to the more regular combat employment of the 9M729.
 
 
https://www.twz.com/land/russias-treaty-busting-screwdriver-cruise-missile-used-against-ukraine-officials
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5791943&forum_id=2]#49391185)