Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov that of all the long-range cruise missiles Storm Shadow launched by the Ukrainian military to date have hit their targets.
“All 100% have hit the target,” Reznikov said on Ukrainian television on May 28.
The air-launched Storm Shadow missiles, jointly developed by Great Britain and France and capable of hitting targets at a distance of more than 250 kilometers, were delivered to Ukraine on May 12 from the UK, CNN reported.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has called the UK military aid as a “best chance to defend themselves (Ukraine) against Russia’s continued brutality.”
“The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory,” Wallace said, The New York Times reported.
The move was criticized by Russian authorities, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it would be met by an “adequate response” from the Russian military.
According to a US senior military official cited by CNN, the newly delivered weapons can become a “real game changer” in terms of range of defense, something that Ukraine has been asking for for a long time.
Prior to the delivery of Storm Shadow, the maximum range Ukraine can regularly hit targets with is 80 kilometers, that of US-maid missiles launched from the HIMARS and M270 systems.