> Use of the 9M729 expands Russia’s arsenal of long-range weapons for striking Ukraine and fits a pattern of Moscow sending threatening signals towards Europe as Trump seeks a peace settlement, Western military analysts said.
>”I think Putin is trying to ramp up pressure as part of the Ukraine negotiations,” said William Alberque, a senior adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum think tank, adding that the 9M729 was designed to hit targets in Europe.
>Russia tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile last week, and on Wednesday said it had tested a nuclear-powered torpedo named Poseidon.
>The White House did not respond to specific questions about Russia’s use of the 9M729.
> On August 4, shortly before using the missiles in Ukraine, Russia said it would no longer limit where it deploys INF-range missiles that can carry nuclear warheads.
>”If it’s shown that Russia’s using INF-range missiles, which could easily be nuclear, in Ukraine, then that is an issue for European security, not just Ukraine,” said John Foreman, a former British defence attache to Moscow and Kyiv.
> Reuters reviewed images of debris after a Russian attack in which a residential building was hit and four people were killed in the Ukrainian village of Lapaiivka on October 5 – over 600 km from Russian territory.
>The images showed that two missile fragments, including a tube containing cabling, were marked 9M729.
>Jeffrey Lewis, Distinguished Scholar of Global Security at Middlebury College, reviewed the images with analysts.
>He said the tube, engine and engine panelling were consistent with what he expected the 9M729 to look like and that the markings made a match even more likely.
>Russia has various missiles that can reach across Ukraine, including the sea-launched Kalibr and air-launched Kh-101, but Lewis said the 9M729 offers something slightly different.
>”This gives them slightly different attack axes, which is difficult for air defences, and it increases the pool of missiles that are available to the Russians,” Lewis said.
>The INF prohibited ground-launched missiles because the launchers are mobile and relatively easy to conceal.
>Douglas Barrie, Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Russia could use the 9M729 to conduct ground-launched strikes from safer locations deeper inside Russia.
>Russia would also benefit from testing the system in a battlefield environment in Ukraine, though 23 uses would imply a military purpose, said Barrie.
kundan48 on
wait so russia broke a treaty that trump had actually quit anyway?? pretty wild that nuclear missiles are back on the table in europe.
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> Use of the 9M729 expands Russia’s arsenal of long-range weapons for striking Ukraine and fits a pattern of Moscow sending threatening signals towards Europe as Trump seeks a peace settlement, Western military analysts said.
>”I think Putin is trying to ramp up pressure as part of the Ukraine negotiations,” said William Alberque, a senior adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum think tank, adding that the 9M729 was designed to hit targets in Europe.
>Russia tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile last week, and on Wednesday said it had tested a nuclear-powered torpedo named Poseidon.
>The White House did not respond to specific questions about Russia’s use of the 9M729.
> On August 4, shortly before using the missiles in Ukraine, Russia said it would no longer limit where it deploys INF-range missiles that can carry nuclear warheads.
>”If it’s shown that Russia’s using INF-range missiles, which could easily be nuclear, in Ukraine, then that is an issue for European security, not just Ukraine,” said John Foreman, a former British defence attache to Moscow and Kyiv.
> Reuters reviewed images of debris after a Russian attack in which a residential building was hit and four people were killed in the Ukrainian village of Lapaiivka on October 5 – over 600 km from Russian territory.
>The images showed that two missile fragments, including a tube containing cabling, were marked 9M729.
>Jeffrey Lewis, Distinguished Scholar of Global Security at Middlebury College, reviewed the images with analysts.
>He said the tube, engine and engine panelling were consistent with what he expected the 9M729 to look like and that the markings made a match even more likely.
>Russia has various missiles that can reach across Ukraine, including the sea-launched Kalibr and air-launched Kh-101, but Lewis said the 9M729 offers something slightly different.
>”This gives them slightly different attack axes, which is difficult for air defences, and it increases the pool of missiles that are available to the Russians,” Lewis said.
>The INF prohibited ground-launched missiles because the launchers are mobile and relatively easy to conceal.
>Douglas Barrie, Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Russia could use the 9M729 to conduct ground-launched strikes from safer locations deeper inside Russia.
>Russia would also benefit from testing the system in a battlefield environment in Ukraine, though 23 uses would imply a military purpose, said Barrie.
wait so russia broke a treaty that trump had actually quit anyway?? pretty wild that nuclear missiles are back on the table in europe.