Direct proof of use
The 9P138 Grad-1 is documented in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War as a Russian 122 mm multiple rocket launcher. Oryx lists Russian 122 mm 9P138 Grad-1 launchers among visually documented rocket-artillery losses from the full-scale invasion phase, with destroyed, damaged, and damaged-and-captured examples.
WarSpotting provides additional dated and geolocated Russian loss records for the same model. Its June 2026 entries identify Russian 122 mm 9P138 vehicles near Berestove in Kupiansk raion and Torske in Kramatorsk raion, supporting the type's continued front-line fielding in eastern Ukraine.
Sources: Oryx Russian Equipment Losses in Ukraine, WarSpotting Russian 9P138 Losses
Timeline
Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion expanded the earlier 2014 conflict into a nationwide war. The 9P138 evidence available for this page belongs to that full-scale phase rather than to the 2014-2021 Donbas war record.
By 2026, WarSpotting recorded multiple Russian 9P138 losses during fighting in eastern Ukraine, while Oryx's cumulative Russian equipment-loss list counted the type among confirmed rocket-artillery losses.
Sources: UK Commons Library 2022-Present Timeline, Oryx Russian Equipment Losses in Ukraine, WarSpotting Russian 9P138 Losses
Narrative
The Grad-1 is a Soviet 9K55 regimental rocket-artillery system built around the 9P138 wheeled combat vehicle. Missilery identifies the 9P138 as a ZIL-131-based launcher with 36 tubes for 122 mm Grad-family rockets, a shorter-range front-line role, and compatibility with the 9M28F high-explosive fragmentation projectile.
In Ukraine, the available public evidence ties the 9P138 mainly to Russian rocket-artillery presence and losses rather than to individually documented firing missions. Oryx's loss count and WarSpotting's dated entries show the launcher fielded by Russia, damaged or destroyed in the theater, and concentrated in the same eastern-Ukrainian ground-war context where tube and rocket artillery remained central.
The sources do not establish Ukrainian operation of the 9P138 Grad-1 in this conflict, nor do they prove a specific target set for each recorded launcher. The supported claim is narrower: Russian 9P138 Grad-1 launchers were fielded in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War and are visually documented in loss records during the full-scale invasion phase.
Sources: 9K55 Grad-1 Multiple Launch Rocket System, Oryx Russian Equipment Losses in Ukraine, WarSpotting Russian 9P138 Losses
