Direct proof of use
Direct public evidence for the 3UBK23-3 / 9M117M1-3 Arkan in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War is limited but specific. On 10 June 2022, Rob Lee identified cannon-launched 3UBK23-3 rounds for the 9M117M1-3 Arkan anti-tank guided missile system inside a Russian VDV BMD-4M vehicle in the Mykolaiv area. That source supports the round being fielded with a Russian airborne infantry fighting vehicle in the conflict, but it does not confirm that the round was fired.
Proekt separately linked the Arkan to BMD-4M armament in its 2023 investigation of Russian defense-industrial supply chains. In a photograph of explosive objects published after Ukrainian emergency-service work around Bucha, Proekt described the longest munition as presumably a 9M117M1-3 Arkan anti-tank missile and noted that BMD-4Ms are armed with that missile. Because Proekt used cautious identification language, this page treats that item as supporting contextual battlefield presence rather than as stronger proof than the June 2022 BMD-4M identification.
Sources: Rob Lee Arkan Rounds in VDV BMD-4M, Proekt Wartime Oligarchs Investigation
Timeline
The first dated milestone in this record is the June 2022 open-source identification from the Mykolaiv area. It places 3UBK23-3 rounds inside a Russian VDV BMD-4M during the full-scale invasion phase of the conflict.
The later 2023 Proekt article added a second public discussion of Arkan-related battlefield material by tying the 9M117M1-3 Arkan to BMD-4M armament and to a photographed munition among explosive objects cleared after Russian forces withdrew from the Kyiv region.
Sources: Rob Lee Arkan Rounds in VDV BMD-4M, Proekt Wartime Oligarchs Investigation
Battlefield context
The Arkan is a guided ammunition item rather than a complete vehicle system, so the conflict record depends on evidence that identifies the round with a compatible firing platform. Army Guide lists the 3UBK23-3 as a 100 mm KBP Instrument Design Bureau round with a 5,500 m firing range and the 9M117M1-3 Arkan missile as its component. Army Recognition describes the BMD-4M's 100 mm main gun as able to fire Arkan laser-guided ammunition, with eight Arkan rounds carried on the vehicle.
Those platform references explain why the June 2022 BMD-4M image is relevant to the Arkan page. The documented conflict role is anti-armor guided ammunition carried with Russian airborne armored vehicles, but the available direct evidence does not establish a particular launch, target, or battlefield effect.
Sources: 3UBK23-3, Army Recognition BMD-4M, Rob Lee Arkan Rounds in VDV BMD-4M
