Moscow has launched 23 ground-launched 9M729 “Novator” cruise missiles against Ukraine, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The production of these missiles was prohibited under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), UkrInform reports.
As per Reuters, the occupiers used the missile to strike Lviv Oblast this fall. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has not provided details or dates of the 9M729 strikes. However, a senior official stated that they began on 21 August, less than a week after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
Ukraine urges OSCE to go beyond “expressing concern”
Oleksandr Sorochyk, First Secretary of Ukraine’s Permanent Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, called on OSCE member states to go “beyond merely expressing concern,” strengthen sanctions against Russia, and support mechanisms for holding Moscow accountable.
“Any less decisive action will be perceived by Moscow as permission to continue its terror,” the Ukrainian diplomat emphasized.
The nuclear-capable missile exceeds 1,200 km
Sorochyk stressed that Russia continues to blatantly violate the INF Treaty, developing and deploying banned systems well before the treaty’s formal expiration, systematically breaching obligations and publicly denying them.
“We have confirmed evidence that Russia has used 9M729 ‘Novator’ cruise missiles (NATO classification: SSC-8 ‘Screwdriver’), a ground-launched system capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and explicitly banned under the INF Treaty,” he said.
The Ukrainian diplomat noted that Russia's production of this missile was the reason the US withdrew from the INF Treaty in August 2019.
“The missile’s range exceeds 1,200 km,” he added.
Sorochyk also detailed Russia’s massive aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities over the past week: during this period alone, Russia launched 1,718 strike drones and 70 missiles, including 25 ballistic missiles.
