The UK has said that it is giving Ukraine the long-range missiles it asked for its defence against Russian soldiers entering the country.
According to the manufacturer, the Storm Shadow cruise missile has a range of more than 250 km (155 miles).
The Himars missiles that Ukraine uses, however, only have a range of about 80 km (50 miles).
According to UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, the weapons will offer Ukraine the “best chance” of defending itself.
Since they are shot from aircraft, Ukrainian pilots will be able to remain further away from the front lines thanks to the longer range.
After taking off, the Storm Shadow descends to a low altitude to avoid being picked up by enemy radar before using an infrared seeker to lock onto its target.
Mr. Wallace made the statement in the House of Commons. The choice was made in response to Ukraine’s persistent requests for more Western armaments.
The missiles, according to Mr. Wallace, “will enable Ukraine to repel Russian forces stationed on Ukrainian sovereign territory.”
He claimed that once Russia “continued down a dark path” by attacking civilian facilities in Ukraine, the UK made the choice.
According to him, Mr. Wallace warned Sergei Shoigu in a letter sent in December that additional strikes might lead to the UK contributing more powerful weapons.
He declared the action to be “calibrated and proportionate to Russia’s escalations” and stated the missiles were “going into” or were already in Ukrainian hands.
He declared, “None of this would have been required had Russia not invaded.
He commended the engineers and scientists who made it possible for the missiles to be used with Ukraine’s current Soviet-era aircraft.
However, he cautioned that the Russian missile systems’ range was “not in the same league” as that of the British-supplied Storm Shadows, with some of Moscow’s weapons having a much greater range.
Oleksii Reznikov, the defence minister of Ukraine, claimed earlier this year that longer-range missiles would not be utilised to attack targets inside of Russia.
He said at a meeting of the EU, “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.”
“Ukraine is prepared to offer any assurances that your weapons won’t be used in attacks on Russian territory.”
The British government began a bidding procedure for the purchase of long-range missiles in response to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s declaration that he was willing to send them to Ukraine in February.
Then, Mr. Sunak declared, “We must work together to assist Ukraine in protecting its cities from Iranian drones and Russian bombs.” Because of this, the UK will be the first nation to provide Ukraine with longer-range weapons.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, stated on Thursday that Moscow would respond militarily in a “appropriate” manner to any Storm Shadow weaponry given by the UK that Ukrainian forces may employ.
Both the British and French air forces have employed the Storm Shadow missile in the past in the Gulf, Iraq, and Libya.
French missiles can be shot from ships and submarines, whereas the British-supplied missiles can only be fired from aircraft.
