According to reports, there are indications that the US and UK are poised to lift their restrictions within days on Ukraine using long-range missiles against targets inside Russia.
The reports also suggest that UK has reportedly given clearance for Ukraine to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles to target Russian territories. This decision could escalate the ongoing conflict between the two nations.
This development comes at a time when the war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified and Russia has increased its missile attacks.
So far there have been restrictions on the use of advanced western weaponry on targets in Russian territory, but if the reports are to be believed and if UK has given clearance, this scenario is likely to change.
Russia has expressed concerns about this potential shift. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted saying, “Moscow foresees the likelihood of Ukraine using long-range missiles and other weapons supplied by the United States and its NATO allies to attack deep inside Russian territory. Ukraine will obviously do this, and we are taking that into account.”
Ukraine already has the Storm Shadow missile, but uses it only within its territory to combat Russian forces.
What is Storm Shadow?
The Storm Shadow cruise is a low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile. It has been jointly manufactured by UK and France and has a range of around 500 km.
Launched from aircraft, this missile flies at close to the speed of sound and then drops down to detonate its high explosive warhead.
Each missile costs nearly US$1 million (£767,000), so they tend to be launched as part of a carefully planned flurry of much cheaper drones.
Storm Shadow is considered to be an ideal weapon for penetrating hardened bunkers and ammunition stores, such as those used by Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Storm Shadow was developed in 1994 and was manufactured by Matra and British Aerospace, but is now made by MBDA Systems. ‘Storm Shadow’ derives it name from British english, while in France it is called the SCALP-EG.
It is not clear yet that how the export of such long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine were permitted as the Missile Technology Control Regime or MTCR, which UK is a founding member of, restricts the export of missiles which have a range greater than 300 km and a payload capacity of 500 kg.
