CNN
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Britain has delivered multiple “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving the nation a new long-range strike capability ahead of a long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces, several senior Western officials told CNN.
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace called the donation “Ukraine’s best chance to defend itself against Russia’s continued brutality,” confirming the deal Thursday after CNN exclusively reported the deal.
The Storm Shadow is a long-range cruise missile with stealth capabilities, jointly developed by the United Kingdom and France, that is normally launched from the air. With a firing range of more than 250 km, or 155 miles, it falls short of the 185-mile range capability of the U.S.-made Army’s surface-to-surface tactical missile systems, or ATACMS, which Ukraine has been asking for a long time.
Critically, the Storm Shadow has the range to strike deep into Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine. A Western official told CNN that the UK has received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles will be used only within the sovereign territory of Ukraine and not within Russia. UK officials have made frequent public statements identifying Crimea as sovereign Ukrainian territory, describing it as “illegally annexed”.
The missile is “a real game changer from a range perspective,” a senior US military official told CNN, and gives Kiev a capability it has been asking for since the start of the war. As CNN has reported, Ukraine’s current maximum range with US-supplied weapons is about 49 miles.
The deployment of the missiles comes as Ukrainian forces prepare to launch a counter-offensive aimed at retaking Kremlin-held territory in the east and south of the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country still needed “a little more time” before launching a counter-offensive, in order to allow some more of the promised Western military aid to reach the country.
“With [what we have] we can move forward and succeed,” Zelensky told European public service broadcasters in an interview published on Thursday. “But we would lose a lot of people. I think this is unacceptable.”
“So we have to wait. We still need a little more time,” he added. Among the supplies Ukraine is still waiting for are armored vehicles, including tanks, which Zelensky said were “arriving in batches”.
It is not the first time that Britain goes further than the US in the armaments it is willing to send to Ukraine. It was the first ally to announce it was sending modern Western tanks to Ukraine, pledging 14 Challenge 2 tanks in January before the US announced it would contribute M-1 Abrams tanks soon after.
Earlier this year, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signaled that Britain was considering sending long-range weapons.
“We need to help Ukraine protect its cities from Russian bombs and Iranian drones,” Sunak told the Munich Security Conference on February 18. “And that is why the UK will be the first country to provide Ukraine with longer-range weapons.”
And earlier this month, the British government issued a recruitment notice through the International Fund for Ukraine. The notice said the UK was inviting expressions of interest to buy “long-range attack” rockets or missiles by May 4, and potential suppliers would be contacted within a month. The warning stipulated “missiles or rockets with a range of 100-300 km; land, sea or air launch. Payload 20-490 kg.
US officials have repeatedly stressed that they will continue to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” and while tens of billions of dollars worth of equipment have been provided, the embattled country has continued to ask for more to defeat the Russian army, incl. long-range missiles such as ATACMS.
However, the United States has been cautious over the past year about providing Ukraine with weapons that could help it strike inside Russian territory. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters in August that the US assessment is that Ukraine “does not currently require ATACMS to serve targets that are directly relevant to the current struggle.”
According to MBDA Missile Systems, the European company that makes the missile, the Storm Shadow is a “deep strike weapon” capable of “being operated day and night in all weather conditions”, which includes an advanced navigation system to ensure accuracy
“After launch, the weapon descends to the ground hugging the altitude to avoid detection,” the MBDA website states. “Upon closing in on the target, its on-board infrared seeker matches the image of the target with the stored image to ensure a precision hit and minimal collateral damage.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
