Russia Confirms Ukraine Used U.K.-Made Storm Shadow Missiles in Cross-Border Strikes

Russia’s military has confirmed that Ukraine fired British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory for the first time on Wednesday.
“Air defenses shot down two U.K.-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles,” the Defense Ministry said in its daily briefing early Thursday, without specifying the location of the strikes.
Pro-war bloggers and Western media reported Wednesday that Storm Shadow missiles targeted Russia’s southwestern Kursk region, parts of which have been under Ukrainian occupation since a surprise cross-border incursion three months ago.
Local territorial defense forces in the region’s Rylsk district claimed that 12 Storm Shadow missiles were launched on Wednesday afternoon.
On Thursday, the Rylsk defense forces shared aerial footage purportedly showing the missile strike, stating that the target was likely a Russian armed forces command center located within the Russian presidential directorate’s sanatorium at the Maryino Estate.
The 19th-century estate, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, reportedly housed a communications hub, and according to the Ukrainian news outlet Defense Express, may have hosted North Korean military personnel during the attack.
The Storm Shadow missiles, capable of striking targets up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) away, carry 450-kilogram (990-pound) BROACH penetration warheads designed to destroy fortified structures.
Initially, the U.K. restricted their use to within Ukrainian territory when they delivered the missiles in May 2023.
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