Ukraine has fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, multiple sources said.
The decision to approve the strikes was made in response to the deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine, which British and US officials warned was a significant escalation of the near three-year conflict.
Videos uploaded to social media and circulated by pro-Russian war bloggers indicated that up to 12 missiles struck a target believed to be a command headquarters in the village of Maryno, the first confirmed use of British weapons on Russian soil during the war.
Photo: AFP
Ukrainian media reported that the site might have been used by North Korean and Russian officers.
Unconfirmed images distributed via the Telegram messaging app appeared to show fragments of the missile at a location in the Kursk region.
There was no official confirmation from the UK, although British Secretary of State for Defense John Healey appeared to hint at developments as he spoke to the House of Commons as reports of the attack in Kursk began to circulate.
Healey said he had spoken with Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov on Tuesday.
“We’ve seen over recent weeks significant change in the action and in the rhetoric on Ukraine, and Ukraine’s action on the battlefield speaks for itself,” he said.
It marks a rapid turnaround in the UK-Ukraine relationship, following complaints that Kyiv was frustrated by a refusal by London to supply a fresh batch of Storm Shadows. The UK was said to be stung by the criticism and the complaints are partly believed to have contributed to a change of heart.
A second element was a change in policy by the outgoing US President Joe Biden administration. The Storm Shadow strikes came a day after Ukraine used ATACMS missiles to hit targets in the Bryansk region.
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