Britain says it is donating long-range ‘Storm Shadow’ missiles to Ukraine.
Britain is donating long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine to help regain land lost to Russia since the invasion began, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told parliament on Thursday.
The air-launched missiles are the latest in a pipeline of military aid delivered to the country by Britain, the United States and other NATO allies and could potentially enable Ukraine to strike military targets. fall in Crimea, a region illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
“Ukraine has the right to defend itself,” Wallace said. “The use of Storm Shadow will enable Ukraine to push back Russian forces stationed on Ukrainian sovereign territory.”
Mr Wallace said he would not describe the weapon’s capabilities in detail, but he confirmed the range of the weapons was 150 miles. He said that while the Storm Shadow missiles gave Ukrainians new capabilities, they “weren’t even in the same league” as some Russian weapons. Russia’s Kalibr cruise missile, he said, had “a range of more than 2,000 km, about seven times” that of the Storm Shadow missile.
Britain has been at the forefront of giving military aid to Ukraine and has done so along with Poland and the Baltic states pushed other European countries to help the country more. Anti-tank missiles supplied by Britain last spring helped Ukraine repel a Russian attempt to take the capital Kyiv, and in January Britain pledged to Challenger tanks to Ukraine.
In the past, announcements of arms deliveries by Britain have been followed by decisions by the United States and other countries to provide similar types of military aid, but it was not clear whether the pattern would apply to the longer-range missiles Ukraine has been asking for for months.
It was not immediately clear whether the United States supported Britain’s move. The Biden administration has stopped supplying Ukraine with longer-range weapons expressing concerns that Ukraine could use them to attack targets deep inside Russia, and that President Vladimir V. Putin could respond by escalating the war.
Ukrainian officials have long insisted on this Crimea is a major target and that pressuring Russian bases there is an important part of their strategy. Ukrainian military officials have also spoken to US officials about the importance of damage to Russia’s rear echelon in Crimea, which supports military operations elsewhere in Ukraine. US officials have said so Ukraine has all the firepower it needs strike in Crimea.
An open question is whether the Storm Shadow missile will enable Ukraine to strike targets in southern Crimea, including the port city of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Southern Crimea is about 150 miles south of the front line in the conflict.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the former US military commander in Europe and an advocate of giving Ukraine long-range weapons, said on Twitter that the Black Sea Fleet is now under threat. “This gives Ukraine the opportunity to make Crimea untenable for Russian troops,” he said.
Ukraine has said it is preparing for a counter-offensive in the coming months. It has not said where or when it will strike, but potential targets include the strip of land north of Crimea occupied by Russia.