London (EFE).- The British Defense Minister, Ben Wallace, confirmed this Thursday in Parliament that his government will send long-range “Storm Shadows” missiles to the Ukrainian Army.
“Today I can confirm that the UK is going to donate ‘Storm shadow’ missiles to Ukraine. The ‘Storm Shadow’ are long-range, conventional, and precision missiles,” Wallace explained before the House of Commons (low).
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.”
The minister has announced that he does not plan to give more details about the capabilities of these missiles but has pointed out that “these systems are not even in the same league as the Russian hypersonic killjoy AS-24 missiles”, nor up to the ” Kalibr cruise missiles, which have a range of 2,000 kilometers, about seven times more than 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.”
Russia vows to respond to British missile shipment
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.
“This also requires an adequate response from our military, who will make the corresponding decisions from the military point of view,” warned the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, in his telephone press conference.
CNN had reported earlier today that London has supplied Ukraine with “multiple” Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, thus giving Ukrainian forces one of the most in-demand weapons on the eve of their long-awaited counter-offensive.
The Storm Shadow missiles, jointly developed by the UK and France, have a range of more than 250km, slightly less than the ATACMS the US has so far refused to send to Ukraine.
According to US military sources, quoted by CNN, Storm Shadow will make a difference in the balance of forces in Ukraine, by giving Kiev military capabilities that it has been requesting since the start of the war.