12 UK Storm Shadow Missiles Were Fired Into Russia, Local Sources Say
More details have emerged of Wednesday's Storm Shadow missile attack from Ukraine on Russia. This marks the first authorized known use of the long-range weapon in a cross-border attack. Previously the British government restricted use to within the Ukrainian battlespace, in the Donbass for example.
Russian war correspondents have confirmed that "A missile’s flight was heard over Kursk. There’s information about a Storm Shadow attack near Rylsk." While the extent of damage or precise targets is unclear, sources on the ground say that up to a dozen Storm Shadows were fired:
Rylsk’s territorial defense forces claimed that 12 Storm Shadow missiles were launched at around 2:50 p.m. Bloomberg, citing an anonymous Western official, also reported that Ukraine had fired Storm Shadow missiles on targets in Russia.
Kursk regional Governor Alexei Smirnov announced that two inbound missiles were intercepted by anti-air defenses, but did not specify whether they were the UK-supplied missiles.
In a first official acknowledgement and strong hint, Yuriy Ignat, a Ukrainian air force official, wrote on Facebook that "there was a ‘strong storm’ in Kursk region" - according to FT. One of the aims of the US and UK escalating like this appears to be sending a 'strong message' to North Korea as it's deployed thousands of troops to assist Russian forces.
BREAKING:
Reports of Ukraine firing up to 12 British Stormshadow missiles against Russian and North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region of Russia.
After y-day’s strike with US-donated ATACMS, British long-range cruise missiles are now also hitting Russian territory
🇺🇦🇺🇸🇬🇧🇷🇺🇰🇵 pic.twitter.com/asE7Jfa2gR— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 20, 2024
It remains undisclosed how many Storm Shadows Britain has given Ukraine over the course of the war, or how many Kiev still has in its stocks. The Ron Paul Institute's Daniel McAdams has reacted like most normal and concerned Americans: "The UK is bombing Russia. What could go wrong?"
