Britain has delivered Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine ahead of the planned counter-offensive. The news was reported cnn, citing senior Western officials, according to whom this decision “is a real turning point”.
It is a long range cruise missile with capability stealth (that is, which allows you to decrease your evidence to enemy observation), developed jointly by the United Kingdom and France, and is typically launched from the air. With a range of more than 250 kilometers, it falls just short of the capability of US-made Army Surface Mounted Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMs), which Ukraine has long been calling for but which the Biden administration has so far rejected to send.
These missiles will allow Kiev to strike deep into Russian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. A Western official told the US broadcaster that the UK had received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles would only be used within Ukraine’s sovereign territory and not in Russia.
“We must help Ukraine protect its cities from Russian bombs and Iranian drones,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said at the Munich Security Conference on February 18, “and that is why the United Kingdom will be the first country to supply Ukraine with long-range weapons”.
“We are very negative” about these deliveries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “this will require an adequate response from our military, which, of course, from a military point of view, will make the appropriate decisions,” he added.
(Video from YouTube / MBDA missile systems)
