Direct proof of use
The Kh-69 is documented in Russian use against Ukraine through recovered missile fragments and Ukrainian military reporting. In February 2024, ArmyInform reported that Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise specialists had begun studying parts and fragments of a Russian air-launched Kh-69 cruise missile, including a warhead-section component, and said the institute was examining that missile type for the first time.
The clearest public incident came after the Russian strike on the Trypillia, also rendered Trypilska, Thermal Power Plant in Kyiv Oblast on 11 April 2024. Defense Express reported that Kh-69 fragments found after the attack indicated use of the missile, and Ukrainska Pravda separately reported that law-enforcement sources provided photographs of wreckage identified from markings as a Kh-59 modification known by Russia as the Kh-69.
Sources: ArmyInform KNDISE Kh-69 Study, Defense Express Trypilska Kh-69 Strike, Ukrainska Pravda Kh-69 Wreckage Photos
Timeline
Publicly available evidence places the missile's Ukrainian battlefield appearance in early 2024. The February forensic-reporting milestone showed recovered Kh-69 components under examination, while the April 2024 Trypillia/Trypilska strike tied the missile to a specific energy-infrastructure attack.
Later Ukrainian Air Force summaries continued to list Russian guided aviation missile launches in the Kh-59/Kh-69 category. Those later summaries support continued Russian employment of that missile family in the conflict, but they do not always separate Kh-69 from Kh-59 in the published count.
Sources: ArmyInform KNDISE Kh-69 Study, Ukrainian Air Force Kh-69 Comment, ArmyInform October 2025 Air Attack Summary, ArmyInform October 2025 Combined Attack Summary
Narrative
In the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War, the Kh-69 appears as a Russian long-range precision-strike weapon used from aircraft rather than as a transferred or captured system. Ukrainian reporting attributed the April 2024 Trypillia/Trypilska plant strike to Russian Kh-69 missiles on the basis of recovered debris, and Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Illia Yevlash described the missile as a new Kh-59-derived system for Ukraine's air defenders to study.
The documented use centers on Russian attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure and on Ukraine's air-defense response. Kyiv Independent reporting on the Institute for the Study of War's April 2024 assessment stated that Russia was producing and deploying the Kh-69 in renewed attacks against Ukraine's energy infrastructure, and cited Ukrainian military confirmation that Kh-69 missiles were launched during the 11 April attack.
The public evidence separates possession and use: Russia is the operator and manufacturer-side user in the conflict, while the Ukrainian record consists of debris examination, air-defense reporting, and public analysis of Russian strike packages. Later air-attack summaries that list Kh-59/Kh-69 launches are useful for continuing context but are less specific than the April 2024 wreckage-backed identification.
Sources: Defense Express Trypilska Kh-69 Strike, Ukrainska Pravda Kh-69 Wreckage Photos, Ukrainian Air Force Kh-69 Comment, Kyiv Independent ISW Kh-69 Report, ArmyInform October 2025 Air Attack Summary, ArmyInform October 2025 Combined Attack Summary
