November 21st 2024.
Today, Ukraine made a historic move by launching British-French-made Storm Shadow missiles at targets within Russia. According to a Russian military blog and Reuters, this comes just one day after Ukraine fired US-made ATACMS missiles into Russia. The use of the UK-supplied missiles was confirmed to Reuters by an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. British media also reported the use of the cruise missile, citing sources.
During a news conference yesterday, Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov refused to confirm or deny the use of the UK-made missiles. Similarly, a spokesperson for the UK Ministry of Defence also declined to comment when asked by CNN. When Umerov was specifically asked if Ukraine used the Storm Shadow missiles to hit a target inside Russia, he responded by saying, "We are using all means to defend our country, so we will not go into detail. But we want to make it clear that we are capable and ready to respond."
Umerov went on to say, "We will defend ourselves and hit back with all the means available to us." This statement echoes the sentiment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has expressed his country's determination to defend itself against Russian aggression.
A Russian military blogger posted photos on Telegram yesterday, claiming that up to 12 Storm Shadow missiles were fired at Russia's Kursk region. The photos show a fragment of the missile with engravings that read "Storm Shadow." These photos were confirmed to be genuine by weapons expert Trevor Ball, a former senior explosive ordnance technician for the US Army, who reviewed the image for CNN. However, CNN was unable to verify that the Telegram image was taken yesterday.
A separate video posted on Telegram, which was verified and geolocated by CNN, shows explosions audible from the Russian village of Marino. A weapons expert who reviewed the video for CNN said that there are no indications that the explosions are from a different type of munition, but it is not possible to definitively say they are from Storm Shadow missiles.
The UK and France have previously supplied the long-range Storm Shadow missiles for Ukraine to use within its own borders. These missiles have a range of about 250km, which is slightly shorter than the range of the American ATACMS. CNN reached out to the French Ministry of Defence for comment. According to BBC's diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams, "Ukraine has so far confined the use of Storm Shadow to the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops continue to hold ground." He noted that reports are still unclear, and the target is unknown, but Storm Shadow is a powerful weapon capable of penetrating bunkers with extreme accuracy.
The use of US-made ATACMS missiles by Ukraine is a significant development in the ongoing conflict with Russia. Just yesterday, two US officials told CNN that Ukraine fired these missiles for the first time across the border to hit a Russian weapons arsenal. The Biden administration had given Kyiv the green light to use these longer-range American weapons against targets inside Russia. In total, eight long-range US missiles were used to successfully hit an ammunition depot deep inside Russia, according to two US defence officials.
The target of the attack was a facility in Bryansk, north of the Kursk region, where Ukraine continues to hold Russian territory seized in a counteroffensive. The initial assessment of the strike suggests that it damaged the ammo depot, according to the officials. One official added that the US had seen evidence of secondary explosions, a common result of striking facilities housing large quantities of ammunition and weapons.
The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that Ukraine fired six ATACMS missiles at the facility in Bryansk, but five of them were shot down, and the sixth was damaged. The Ministry also stated that fragments of the missiles fell on the territory of the military facility, causing a fire that was extinguished. Ukraine has not yet confirmed or denied the use of these long-range US missiles.
In a show of strength, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said, "Ukraine has long-range capabilities, including our own production of long-range drones. We also have the long-range missile 'Neptune' and not just one, as well as the ATACMS. And we will use all of this to defend ourselves."
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