Ukraine targets Crimea with UK-made missiles
Ukraine used several British-made Storm Shadow missiles in an attempted attack on Crimea, with Russian air defenses intercepting all of them, the Defense Ministry has claimed. Russian officials previously said this type of long-range munition was employed in strikes on the peninsula last month as well.
In a message posted on its Telegram channel on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that “on October 30 at around 13:00 Moscow time an attempted attack by the Kiev regime on targets in Crimea involving eight ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles was thwarted.”
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev confirmed on his Telegram channel that air defense systems had been activated in the port city, which is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. The official called on locals to take cover.
Later he wrote that two projectiles had been downed over the city.
In a subsequent post, Razvozhayev revealed that falling missile debris had left at least one man injured and resulted in minor material damage.
In late September, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused US and British intelligence agencies of coordinating a Ukrainian missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters earlier in the month.
Soon after the attack, Britain’s Sky News reported that the Ukrainian military had used the UK-made Storm Shadow.
British media claimed that the same missile type had been utilized in a Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol’s naval shipyard on September 13, when two Russian naval vessels were damaged.
The Storm Shadow is an air-launched cruise missile jointly developed by Britain and France, which boasts a range of more than 250km (155 miles). The UK was the first nation to provide Kiev with the weapon back in May, with France following suit in July by shipping its own version of the munition, known as SCALP-EG.
Moscow has repeatedly warned NATO member states that the shipment of heavy weapons and other military aid to Ukraine makes them de facto participants in the struggle. Russian officials have also stressed that foreign aid will not change the course of the conflict, and that the Russian Army will employ effective countermeasures against any weapon system.
