London has allegedly followed Washington in allowing Kiev to freely use Western long-range weapons
Ukraine has reportedly fired British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Russia’s Kursk Region, the BBC claimed on Wednesday. This report follows allegations that Washington has also granted Kiev permission to use its ATACMS missiles for long-range strikes against Russia.
While London has not officially confirmed allowing Kiev to use its missiles against targets deep inside Russian territory, the BBC claims to have received information from British officials indicating that UK Defense Secretary John Healey spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday night.
Prior to that, Healey informed Parliament that London was “doubling down” on its support for Kiev, adding that “Ukraine’s action on the battlefield speaks for itself.” The BBC noted that British ministers are likely to “exercise caution in their response to the reports” due to concerns about Russia’s potential reaction to such actions.
The broadcaster also pointed to several images shared on Telegram, which claim to show fragments of a Storm Shadow missile in Kursk. The outlet states it has consulted weapons experts who confirmed that the debris in the pictures matches parts of the British-supplied missile.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that London had approved the use of Storm Shadows by Kiev’s forces in response to allegations that North Korean troops had joined the fighting in Russia’s Kursk Region.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment on the UK’s alleged decision, telling the BBC that he would not “speak publicly to the use of another country’s weapons.”
While the Russian Defense Ministry has not yet confirmed the use of Storm Shadows in Kursk, several Telegram channels have claimed that up to 12 UK-supplied missiles were fired at the region on Wednesday afternoon, all of which were allegedly intercepted by air defenses.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky previously claimed to have received permission from multiple Western countries to deploy their long-range rockets against targets deep inside Russia.
Moscow has warned that such attacks would constitute NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the use of Western long-range missiles by Kiev would alter the nature of the conflict. On Tuesday, Putin revised Russia’s nuclear doctrine to include provisions allowing Moscow to consider the use of weapons of mass destruction in response to conventional attacks by proxies of a nuclear-armed state.
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