Ukraine has fired British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Russia’s Kursk Region, the BBC reported on Wednesday. The claim follows Washington's granting of permission for Kiev to use ATACMS missiles in long-range strikes against Russia.
While London has not officially confirmed allowing Kiev to use its missiles against targets inside Russia's internationally recognised territory, the BBC claims to have received information from British officials indicating that Defense Secretary John Healey spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday night.
Prior to that, Healey informed parliament that London was “doubling down” on its support for Kiev, adding that “Ukraine’s action on the battlefield speaks for itself.” The BBC noted that British ministers are likely to “exercise caution in their response to the reports,” due to concerns about Russia’s potential reaction.
The broadcaster also pointed to several images shared on Telegram, which claim to show fragments of a Storm Shadow missile in Kursk Region. The outlet said it consulted weapons experts, who confirmed that the debris match the British-supplied missile – but were not able to verify the timing or location of the images.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that London had approved the use of Storm Shadows by Kiev’s forces in response to allegations that North Korean troops had joined the fighting in Russia’s Kursk Region.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has declined to comment on the UK’s alleged decision, telling the BBC that he would not “speak publicly to the use of another country’s weapons.”
While the Russian Defense Ministry has not yet confirmed the use of Storm Shadows in Kursk, several Telegram channels have claimed that up to 12 UK-supplied missiles were fired into the region on Wednesday afternoon, and were all allegedly intercepted by air defenses.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky previously claimed to have received permission from multiple Western countries to deploy their long-range rockets against targets deep inside Russia.
Moscow has warned that such attacks would constitute NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the use of Western long-range missiles by Kiev would alter the nature of the conflict. On Tuesday, Putin revised Russia’s nuclear doctrine to include provisions allowing Moscow to consider the use of weapons of mass destruction in response to conventional attacks by proxies of a nuclear-armed state.