According to Bloomberg, the UK has provided Ukraine with additional Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to support the country in maintaining an attack campaign deep into Russian territory in the coming winter months. The new batch of weapons has a range of more than 250km, believed to help Kiev continue strategic airstrikes.
He first transferred Storm Shadow to Ukraine in May 2023. Recently, during a meeting between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Mr. Starmer said that London is "accelerating the program of providing more than 5,000 light missiles" to increase military pressure on Russia.
Kiev has previously claimed to have used Storm Shadow missiles in an attack on an industrial facility deep in Russian territory. The move comes after Zelensky warned of "new deep strikes" on Russia.
Some sources revealed that British soldiers were secretly sent to Ukraine to install Storm Shadow launch systems on aircraft and train Ukrainian forces on how to operate them. Russia has repeatedly accused the UK of being directly involved in the conflict, saying Kiev would have had difficulty using this sophisticated weapon without Western support.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the Future Forum 2050 in Moscow that Ukraine would be powerless without the British, and accused London of completely being involved in the conflict. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also said that the directive to attack the infrastructure of the Sudzha gas station originated from London.
Russia has accused Ukraine of using Western weapons to attack civilian targets and critical infrastructure. In January, the US-made Storm Shadow and ATACMS missiles were said to have damaged dozens of homes in the Bryansk region of Russia. Moscow called this evidence that the conflict in Ukraine is effectively a confidence war waged by the West against Russia.
