Blitz Bureau
BRITAIN is likely to supply Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine for use inside Russia, according to The Guardian. The move follows US President Joe Biden’s agreement to supply similar American long-range Atacms weapon to Ukraine.
Storm Shadow missiles have a range of about 250km (155 miles), similar to the US Atacms, and have in the past been given to Kyiv by the UK and France to strike targets inside Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at the G20 summit that the UK recognised it needed to “double down” on its support for Ukraine.
Starmer said that, while he was “not going to get into operational details”, he recognised the need to do more to help Ukraine, whose electricity network was seriously damaged by a wave of Russian bombing on November 17.
“I’ve been really clear for a long time now, we need to double down. We need to make sure Ukraine has what is necessary for as long as necessary, because we cannot allow Putin to win this war,” the Prime minister said, quoted the newspaper.
Russia, however, accused the west of escalation and said that Biden risked adding “fuel to the fire” in Ukraine, and while Donald Trump remained silent on the issue. Biden had refused to allow permission for long-range missiles to be used inside Russia for years but finally relented on November 17, and said that Ukraine could use Atacms missiles to try to halt an expected counter-offensive by an estimated 50,000 Russian and North Korean forces in Kursk.
