British Defense Minister Ben Wallace confirmed Thursday in Parliament that his government will send long-range “Storm Shadows” missiles to the Ukrainian Army.

“Today I can confirm that the UK will donate 'Storm shadow' missiles to Ukraine. The 'Storm Shadow' are long-range, conventional, and precision missiles,” Wallace explained to the House of Commons (low).

The possible shipment, which is now ratified, had been received with threats from Russia, which interprets these new capabilities for Ukraine as an escalation that will be responded to proportionally.

In his statement, Wallace argued that “the donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance of defending itself against continued Russian brutality, especially deliberate attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which are contrary to international law.”

“Ukraine has the right to be able to defend itself against this,” stressed the minister, insisting that these missiles “will allow Ukraine to expel Russian forces that are based within Ukrainian sovereign territory.”

A “calibrated” response

The politician also noted that he did not plan to elaborate on the capabilities of those missiles but noted that “these systems are not even in the same league as the Russian AS-24 hypersonic killjoy missiles,” nor are they up to par with “the missiles Kalibr cruise ships that have a range of 2,000 kilometers, about seven times that of the Storm Shadow”.

“Russia must recognize that its actions have led to the provision of these systems to Ukraine,” said the British minister, concluding that it is “a calibrated and proportionate response to Russia's escalations