Britain May Allow Ukraine to Use Storm Shadow Missiles Deep Inside Russia. Why Is This a Big Deal?

What took so long?

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, many aid decisions regarding Ukraine have been hindered due to Ukraine’s allies’ fears of escalating the war.

Ukraine’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, emphasized in one of his statements that in the end, all needed decisions were made, and none of them led to escalation. He reminded that Russia itself is constantly escalating the situation and does so regardless of any decisions.

What needs to be done?

While Politico reported that the US is finalizing a plan to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US weapons inside Russia, The Guardian wrote on September 11 that Britain has already decided to allow Ukraine to hit targets in Russia with long-range Storm Shadow missiles. However, it has not made the decision public yet.

Storm Shadow missiles are Franco-British cruise missiles with a maximum flight range of about 250 kilometers. It was supplied to Ukraine in May, 2023. Oleksii Reznikov, the Defense Minister of Ukraine, stated back then that Storm Shadows were showing impeccable results on the battlefield.

For now, Ukrainian combat aircraft have been using British Storm Shadow high-precision cruise missiles to strike targets of Russian forces but only in the temporarily occupied territory, including Crimea.

Grant Shapps, former UK Secretary of State for Defense, stated recently that Ukraine should be allowed to strike Russia with British Storm Shadows.

“We know that many attacks are launched from Russia itself. And yet, with the exception of our giving permission to allow UK missiles to strike Crimea, we have remained cautious about allowing our Ukrainian allies to target the source of these attacks,” he said.

Where will Ukraine strike?

On September 6, speaking at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to concerns from international partners regarding potential strikes on Russian territory. He reaffirmed that Ukraine’s goal is to use long-range weapons strictly against military targets.

“We are not aiming at civilians,” he said, highlighting the need to target Russian airfields located 100 to 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border in order to prevent Russia from dropping aerial bombs on civilians.

Why is this important?

On September 12, Zelenskyy revealed at a meeting with the heads of diplomacy from the US and the UK a very “direct and detailed” vision of what kind of lifting of restrictions on long-range strikes against Russia is necessary for Ukraine.

Allowing Ukraine to use high-precision British Storm Shadow missiles to strike deep inside Russia would allow it to destroy Russian air terror tools, including airfields and ammunition warehouses, before they even get close to Ukraine’s borders, ultimately saving lives and preventing Russia from inflicting more destruction.