Ukrainian forces have already started using U.K.-provided Storm Shadow long-range missiles to hit Russian targets, CNN reported on May 16, citing three Western officials.
The officials did not specify when and for what purposes the Ukrainian military has used the missiles. Ukraine's Defense Ministry declined to comment on the matter, CNN wrote.
On May 15, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian troops had intercepted a Storm Shadow rocket for the first time. Earlier, the ministry claimed Ukrainian forces had struck industrial facilities in the occupied city of Luhansk on May 12 with such a missile.
The air-launched Storm Shadow missile, jointly developed by the U.K. and France, has a range of 250 kilometers (155 miles), aiming at the target at 987 kilometers per hour or 0.8 of the speed of sound.
The U.K. has become the first country to provide Ukraine with weapons capable of reaching targets deep into Russian-occupied territories.
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced donating the missiles to Ukraine on May 11, confirming previous media reports. However, Wallace didn't specify whether the U.K. had already delivered any missiles and, if yes, how many.
Storm Shadow is only slightly inferior to the 185-mile U.S. Army Surface-to-Surface System (ATACMS), which Ukraine has long requested, so far unsuccessfully.
Such missiles can reach Russia's territory, but Kyiv promised the U.K. government not to use them to strike targets inside Russia. Instead, Ukraine says it would use donated long-range weapons to attack Russian command centers, supply lines, ammunition, and fuel depots in Crimea and the occupied territories of Ukraine's east.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
