Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev of targeting civilian infrastructure with Western-made weapons
The UK has supplied Ukraine with additional long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to enable deeper strikes into Russia, Bloomberg reports.
London first announced the delivery of the air-launched rockets – which have a range of more than 250km (155 miles) – to Kiev in May 2023.
The latest shipment of an unspecified number of Storm Shadows is meant to help Ukraine maintain its campaign of long-range attacks against Russia during the coming winter months, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing unnamed sources.
During a meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London was “accelerating our UK program to provide Ukraine with more than 5,000 lightweight missiles” to put “military pressure” on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Also in October, Kiev claimed to have used Storm Shadow missiles, among other weapons, to strike an industrial facility deep inside Russia. The attack followed Zelensky’s earlier threat, made in late August, to launch “new deep strikes” against the neighboring country.
In April, The Times, citing anonymous Ukrainian and British military officers, reported that “UK troops were secretly sent to fit Ukraine’s aircraft with the missiles and teach troops how to use them.”
Speaking at the Future Forum-2050 in Moscow this June, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine “would be helpless without the British,” adding that London is “100%” involved in the conflict.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated in March that “the command” for the attack on the Sudzha oil pipeline infrastructure “came from London.”
Ukraine has repeatedly conducted long-range attacks inside Russia, which have often struck civilian areas and critical infrastructure.
In January, Storm Shadows, along with US-made ATACMS missiles, damaged dozens of private homes in Bryansk Region, Russia.
Moscow has described the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war being waged against Russia by the West. Russian officials have noted that sophisticated systems such as Storm Shadows cannot be effectively used by Ukrainian forces without the direct involvement of Western military personnel.
