"Storm Shadow"

Ukraine fires British missiles into Russia

A British Storm Shadow missile

(Bild: AFP/JUSTIN TALLIS)

According to media reports, Ukraine has fired British missiles of the longer-range Storm Shadow type into Russian territory for the first time. This was reported by the Bloomberg agency and the Financial Times and Guardian, among others, citing unnamed insider sources

A spokesman for the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, stated that his office would not comment on reports or operational matters. The British Ministry of Defense also remained silent when asked. The government in London has so far always been evasive about the conditions for the Storm Shadow mission through Ukraine.

According to the British daily newspaper "The Telegraph", residents in the Russian oblast of Kursk have discovered fragments of a Storm Shadow missile. The Telegram channel "Dwa Majora" published corresponding images:

The governor of Kursk Oblast had previously announced that the air defense had shot down two Ukrainian missiles. He did not specify what type of missile it was. According to "Dwa Majora", the Ukrainian army had fired twelve Storm Shadow missiles at Russia.

London fundamentally opposed
The UK had previously stated that Ukraine could only deploy Storm Shadow cruise missiles within Ukrainian territory. At the same time, the government in London insisted that the USA also allow the use of such weapons on Russian territory. According to insiders, US President Joe Biden has now agreed to this.

The US release is seen as a response to the suspected deployment of North Korean soldiers on Moscow's side. Russia, for its part, sees the US weapons as an escalation and an involvement of the USA and other Western states in the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long been asking to be able to deploy more extensive weapons from Western partners on Russian territory. The reason given was that this would be decisive for the course of the war.

The British Storm Shadow is an air-launched cruise missile with a range of more than 250 kilometers for precision attacks on targets such as bunkers or critical infrastructure. They are identical in design to the French Scalp missiles.