UK sending Ukraine long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles

By AP 11 May 2023, 3:10 pm

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A member of the military walks past an MBDA Storm Shadow/Scalp missile at the Farnborough Airshow, southwest of London, on July 17, 2018. (Ben STANSALL / AFP)

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says that the UK is sending Ukraine long-range cruise missiles to help push back Russian forces.

Wallace told lawmakers in the House of Commons that Britain is donating Storm Shadow missiles. He didn’t say how many are being sent.

Wallace said the missiles “are now going into or are in the country itself.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged in February that Britain would be the first country to give Ukraine the longer-range weapons that it has sought from Western allies.

The missiles give Ukraine capacity to strike well behind the front lines, including in Russia-occupied Crimea. UK media reported that Ukraine has pledged not to use the missiles to attack Russia itself.

Wallace said the missiles would be used to push back Russian forces in “Ukrainian sovereign territory.” He said UK support for Ukraine is “responsible, calibrated, coordinated and agile.”