UK breaks Western taboo and sends long-range missiles to Ukraine

The United Kingdom once again takes the lead in its support for Ukraine, becoming the first country to supply long-range missiles for the expected counteroffensive against Russian forces. Specifically, it is the Storm Shadow, the same ones that were used in the Libyan civil war that ended with the overthrow and assassination of the dictator Muammar Gadhafi in 2011.. With a range of more than 250 kilometers, these missiles are, according to experts, “a real game changer”, as they surpass the firing range of the American Himars that Kiev has so far used against the Kremlin forces..

Although President Volodimir Zelensky had been calling for this type of high-precision munitions for months, both the United States and other allies had refused for fear of provoking Vladimir Putin.. However, Downing Street once again stands out.

Last January, the United Kingdom already became the first to send 14 powerful Challenger 2 main battle tanks, thus breaking the barrier that the Western allies had set up until then for fear that Russia would consider that it had gone too far.. Germany and the United States were initially reluctant, but later ended up sending tanks as well.. Therefore, it is not ruled out that the same thing could happen now..

Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace argued that the Storm Shadow missiles “give Ukraine the best chance of defending itself against continued Russian brutality, especially deliberate attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.” , which go against international law,” said. “Ukraine has the right to be able to defend itself against this,” stressed the minister, insisting that these missiles “will allow Ukraine to expel the Russian forces that are based within Ukrainian sovereign territory.”.

The Kremlin had warned that supplying Storm Shadow missiles would require “an adequate response from our military.”. However, Wallace stressed that it is a “calibrated and proportionate response to Russia's escalations.”.

The British minister limited himself to saying that the Storm Shadow are “long-range, conventional and precision missiles”. He did not want to reveal more details about his capabilities.. But he added that “these systems are not even in the same league as the Russian AS-24 hypersonic killjoy missiles,” nor are they up to the task of “Kalibr cruise missiles that have a range of 2,000 kilometers, about seven times more than Storm Shadow,” Wallace said.. “Russia must recognize that its actions have resulted in the provision of these systems to Ukraine,” he said..

The Government of Joe Biden fears that if Ukraine has longer-range missiles, it could carry out bombing attacks on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, or even on Russian territory. According to CNN, the UK has received assurances from the Zelensky government that these missiles will be used only within the sovereign territory of Ukraine and not within Russia.. However, British officials have made frequent public statements identifying Crimea as Ukraine's sovereign territory, describing it as “illegal annexation”..

Storm Shadow cruise missiles cost around £2.2m each and are fired from a fighter jet, unlike Himars land-based launchers. They carry a specialized 450-kilogram penetrating warhead designed to destroy long-range targets and fly low to avoid detection by enemy radar.. With a firing range of more than 250 kilometers they would be very close to the range capacity of the 298 kilometers of the US ATACMS that Ukraine has been asking for a long time..

The Storm Shadow missiles have been supplied independently of the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), the London-led initiative to procure weapons through allies.. Defense sources assure the British media that having gone through this route — which has an executive panel made up of the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden — would have taken “centuries”.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last February, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak already advanced that Ukraine had to “protect Ukraine from Russian bombs and Iranian drones”, so that the United Kingdom would be “the first country to supply weapons more far-reaching”.

The deployment of the missiles comes as Ukrainian forces prepare to launch a counteroffensive aimed at retaking territory controlled by the Kremlin, which has bolstered its defenses on a frontline of about 1,450 kilometres, from the eastern regions of Lugansk and Donetsk , as far as Zaporiyia and Jershon in the south.

However, Zelensky has stressed that his country still needs “a little more time” before launching the counteroffensive, to allow part of the military aid promised by the West to arrive.. “With what we have, we can move forward and be successful,” he stressed this Thursday in an interview for the public service stations members of Eurovision News, such as the British channel BBC. “But we would lose a lot of people. I think that this is unacceptable,” he added.. Among the supplies Ukraine is still awaiting are armored vehicles, including tanks promised earlier this year, which Zelensky said were “arriving in batches”..

On the other hand, the Ukrainian president dismissed the fear of losing the support of the United States if President Joe Biden is not re-elected in 2024. “Who knows where we'll be next year. By then I think we will have won,” he said optimistically, noting that Ukraine still enjoys support in the US Congress..

Zelensky has offered a 10-point peace proposal, calling for the return of all invaded territory, reparation payments for war-related damage and the creation of a special court to prosecute Russian war crimes.. But the plan has been rejected by Moscow.