Storm Shadow missiles seen here attached to an RAF Tornado |
LONDON, United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has
confirmed it is supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles it requested for its
fight against invading Russian forces.
The Storm Shadow cruise
missile has a range of over 250km (155 miles), according to the manufacturer.
By contrast, the US-supplied
Himars missiles used by Ukraine only have a range of around 80 km (50 miles).
The weapons will give Ukraine
new capabilities as it prepares a counter-offensive against Russia.
They are fired from aircraft,
so the longer range means Ukrainian pilots will be able to stay further from
the frontlines.
Once launched, the Storm Shadow drops to low altitude to avoid detection by enemy radar, before latching onto its target with an infra-red seeker.
The announcement was made in
the House of Commons by UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace. The decision follows
repeated pleas from Ukraine for more weapons from the West.
Mr Wallace said the missiles
would "allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based on Ukrainian
sovereign territory".
He said the UK had taken the decision
to send Storm Shadow missiles after Russia "continued down a dark
path" of targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
"The donation of these
missile systems gives Ukraine the best chance of defending themselves against
Russia's brutality," he told MPs.
He described it as a
"calibrated and proportionate to Russia's escalations".
But he warned that the
capability of the British-supplied Storm Shadows were "not in the same
league" as Russia's own missile systems - with some of Moscow's weapons
boasting a significantly longer range.
Earlier this year, Ukrainian
Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov insisted longer-range missiles would not be
used to attack targets within Russia itself.
"If we could strike at a
distance of up to 300 kilometres, the Russian army wouldn't be able to provide
defence and will have to lose," he told an EU meeting.
"Ukraine is ready to
provide any guarantees that your weapons will not be involved in attacks on the
Russian territory."
In February, UK Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak said he was prepared to send long-range missiles to Ukraine, and
the British government opened a bidding process for their procurement.
"Together we must help
Ukraine to shield its cities from Russian bombs and Iranian drones," Mr
Sunak said then. "That's why the United Kingdom will be the first country
to give Ukraine longer-range weapons."
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would take an "appropriate" military
response to any British-supplied Storm Shadow weapons used by Ukrainian forces.
The Storm Shadow missile has
been operated by both British and French air forces and has been used
previously in the Gulf, Iraq and Libya.
The British-supplied missiles
can only be fired by aircraft, but French missiles can be fired from ships and
submarines.
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