Britain is supplying Ukraine’s armed forces with long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has announced.
Addressing the House of Commons on Thursday, Wallace said the missiles would allow Ukraine to hit Russian troops, ammunition, and fuel dumps deep behind the front line.
He told MPs: “Today, I can confirm that the UK has donated Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.
“Storm Shadow is a long-range conventional precision strike capability. It complements the long-range systems already gifted, including HIMARS and Harpoon missiles, as well as Ukraine’s own Neptune cruise missiles and longer-range munitions already gifted.”
Ukraine has been asking for months for long-range missiles, but support provided by Britain and other allies such as the United States has previously been limited to shorter-range weapons.
Storm Shadow, manufactured by European missile maker MBDA, is an air-launched long-range missile, designed for attacks against high-value targets such as hardened bunkers and key infrastructure, according to the company’s website.
They have a range of more than 250 km (155 miles), according to the manufacturer.
By contrast, the HIMARS missiles supplied by the United States only have a range of around 80 km (50 miles).
‘Calibrated Proportionate Response’
The defence secretary said: “As I have said many times in the past we simply will not stand by while Russia kills civilians. We have seen what Ukrainians are able to do when they have the right capabilities.”“That is why the prime minister and I have now taken the decision to provide longer-range capabilities,” he added.
Wallace said the Storm Shadow missiles give “Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia’s continued brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law.”
“Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself against this. Their use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian Sovereign Territory,” he added.
But Wallace warned that these weapons are “not in the same league as the Russian AS-24 Killjoy hypersonic missile or Shahed Iranian one-way attack drones, or their Kalibr cruise missile with a range of over 2,000 km, roughly 7 times that of the Storm Shadow missile.”
He said it was Russian actions that led to the British decision to supply long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Wallace said he wrote Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in December, telling him that further Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure would force the UK to consider donating more capable weapons to Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, Russia has continued down this dark path,” he said, pointing to Russia’s continued attacks on civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, with bombs, missiles, and drones.
Wallace said the new weapons package is a “calibrated proportionate response to Russia’s escalations.”
The main opposition Labour Party welcomed the announcement. Labour’s shadow defence secretary John Healey said that Storm Shadow “will strengthen Ukraine’s fight to repel the Russian forces.”
UK Support for Ukraine
After the United States, Britain has been the second-largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine contributing £2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) worth of support last year.Although this is well below what the United States has provided, Britain has in the past been the first country to supply more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine.
Britain sent the first shoulder-launched anti-air and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in the run-up to the invasion and in February announced it would be the first country to begin training Ukrainian pilots on NATO fighter jets.
In January, Britain said it would send 14 of its main Challenger 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, a pledge that was followed by other nations including the United States and Germany.
Last week, a British-led group of European countries asked companies for expressions of interest to supply Ukraine with missiles with a range of up to 300 km (190 miles), but Britain said on Tuesday that no final decision had been taken on supplying the weapons.
Heavy tanks, air defense, and longer-range weapons are “all the things that will allow Ukraine to defend itself and repel Russian aggression, and indeed, yes, to have a counter-offensive that moves Russia outside of its own country,” Sunak said at the time.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion force had yet to start.
Ukrainian forces had already received enough equipment from Western allies for their campaign but were waiting for the full complement of armoured vehicles to arrive to reduce their casualties, Zelenskyy said on Thursday in an interview with European broadcasters.
