The Ukrainian military has launched UK-supplied ‘Storm Shadow’ missiles at Russia’s Kursk Region and Krasnodar Region, according to Bloomberg News.
The reported attacks come after Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky 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 amount to NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict.
“We as a nation and as a government are doubling down on our support for Ukraine and determined to do more,” British Defense Secretary John Healey said in Parliament on Wednesday.
London approved the use of ‘Storm Shadows’ in response to allegations from Kiev that North Korean troops had joined the fighting in Kursk Region, a “Western official familiar with the matter” told Bloomberg. The anonymous source said that the British government considered the alleged move to be an escalation by Moscow.
Multiple outlets reported over the weekend that US President Joe Biden had lifted the restrictions on Kiev’s use of American missiles. While the White House has neither confirmed nor denied this officially, a volley of ATACMS projectiles was fired at Russia’s Bryansk Region early on Tuesday.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet commented on the reports of ‘Storm Shadow’ strikes. According to one Telegram channel, up to 12 missiles were launched at Kursk Region on Wednesday afternoon, but were intercepted by air defenses. Photographs making the rounds on social media showed purported fragments of the British-made missiles found in the village of Maryino, about halfway between the Ukrainian border and the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Kurchatov.
Another Telegram channel said that at least two missiles were intercepted over Yeysk, a seaport in Russia’s Krasnodar Region.
The US and its allies had placed certain restrictions on the use of the weapons they have supplied to Kiev since 2022, in order to maintain plausible deniability regarding their involvement in the conflict with Russia. Ukraine has been clamoring for lifting these limitations since May.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the use of Western long-range missiles by Kiev would change the nature of the conflict and make NATO a direct participant in the hostilities. Moscow has also revised its nuclear doctrine to encompass conventional attacks by proxies.
“Attempts by some NATO members to participate in the facilitation of possible long-range strikes with Western weapons deep inside Russian territory will not be left unpunished,” the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, said on Wednesday.
While the US and the UK appear to have given Kiev the permission Zelensky demanded, France has said it’s still considering the move. Meanwhile, Germany and Italy have publicly said that their weapons can only be used on Ukrainian soil.