Why 9M729 cruise missile controversial? All about the weapon Russia developed ‘secretly’

Ukraine has claimed that Russia was using the controversial 9M729 cruise missile against Kyiv in the ongoing war. It is the same missile that led to the collapse of a key Cold War–era arms control pact with the United States in the past. Volodymyr Zelensky's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the Russian forces have deployed the ground-launched 9M729 cruise missile. The weapon is also known as the SSC-8 to NATO.

There's limited information about the controversial weapon. All that is available out there says that the missile is a ground-launched cruise missile developed by the Russian manufacturer NPO Novator.

The weapon is capable of carrying nuclear warheads and employing a terrain-following flight profile to evade detection.

The CSIS Missile Threat said that the 9M729 is likely a ground-launched variant of the Russian Navy’s ship-launched 3M-54 Kalibr missile. Russia began secretly developing the 9M729 in the middle of the 2000s, and flight testing began in 2008.

The missile was at the centre of the US decision to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019. The US had argued that the range of the weapon is wya more than the treaty’s 500-kilometre limit. Russia had denied the claim. Then-President Donald Trump formally pulled the US out of the pact, citing repeated Russian violations.

This came after Zelensky said on Thursday (Oct 23) that Kyiv did not use American long-range weapons on Russia in the ongoing war. He also stated that Ukraine's domestically produced long-range capabilities reach 3,000 km.

"I hope that they will make a political decision, positive decision in one or another way to help Ukraine with funds," Zelensky told a press conference in Brussels, where EU leaders discussed the plans.

"Russia brought war to our land, and they have to pay for this war," he said.