Kremlin warns US and Britain will be ‘full-fledged’ war participants if western missiles
The Kremlin has warned the US and Britain they will be seen as ‘full-fledged’ participants in the war in Ukraine if Storm Shadow and HIMARS missiles are used to hit targets in Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea.
Vladimir Putin‘s defence minister Sergei Shoigu warned he will target ‘decision-making centres’ in Ukraine – implying he plans to order his military to target Volodymyr Zelensky and his government leaders in Kyiv.
Shoigu said: ‘According to our information, the leadership of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is planning to launch strikes on the territory of the Russian Federation, including Crimea, with HIMARS and Storm Shadow missiles.
‘The use of these missiles outside the area of the special military operation would mean a full-fledged involvement of the US and UK in the conflict entailing immediate strikes on the decision-making centres in Ukraine.’
His claim that Crimea is part of Russia is disputed by the West – and international law – which regards it as Ukrainian.
Vladimir Putin’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured delivering a speech) warned he will target ‘decision-making centres’ in Ukraine – implying he plans to order his military to target Volodymyr Zelensky and his government leaders in Kyiv
Shoigu’s threat came as Russia admitted today that it had lost another colonel in an earlier Storm Shadow strike close to Crimea, on the Arabat Spit (pictured)
Putin forcibly annexed the Black Sea peninsula in 2014.
So far Ukraine has used long-range British-supplied Storm Shadow and US-provided HIMARS to hit targets in Russian-occupied areas of mainland Ukraine, not including Crimea.
Shoigu’s threat came as Russia admitted today that it had lost another colonel in an earlier Storm Shadow strike close to Crimea, on the Arabat Spit.
Col Sergei Postovalov, 53, is due to be buried tomorrow after he was fatally wounded in the 10 June strike which hit a Russian command post close to Henichesk minutes after Putin’s deputy premier Denis Manturov had visited.
Putin was reported to have visited the site in April.
Postovalov was a colonel in the Russian Interior Ministry forces.
His death follows the killing of Russian army Major-General Sergey Goryachev, 52, in a strike in annexed Zaporizhzhia region earlier this month – also seen as in a Storm Shadow attack carried out by Ukraine’s forces.
Shoigu is clearly rattled at the power of especially the Storm Shadow with a range of 155 miles, which has been fired from Ukrainian Su-24 war planes.
‘The Kyiv regime is employing a large number of Western weapons and elite formations whose personnel have been trained by NATO specialists,’ Shoigu told the collegium of the Russian defence ministry.
Analysts have said the long-range Storm Shadow (pictured on display in the RAF museum) has been a game changer for the Ukrainians as Kyiv launches its counteroffensive. The Storm Shadow missiles, accurate to beyond 150 miles, allow Ukrainian forces to strike deeper into Russian-held territory than was previously the case
US-made HIMARS systems (pictured) also changed the game, allowing Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian-controlled territory and push the frontlines back
Col Sergei Postovalov (pictured), 53, is due to be buried tomorrow after he was fatally wounded in the 10 June strike which hit a Russian command post close to Henichesk
Last week, Yevgeny Balitsky, Moscow-appointed head of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine, admitted the weapons are causing ‘trouble’ and are even more problematic for the Kremlin’s armies than the US-supplied HIMARS systems.
His words confirm the impression that the long-range Storm Shadow has been a game changer for the Ukrainians as Kyiv launches its counteroffensive.
‘They certainly give us trouble with their missiles, I must say, especially Storm Shadow,’ said Balitsky.
‘We’ve somehow learned how to shoot down [US-supplied] HIMARS.
But the [British-supplied] Shadow ones are even harder. They arrive, and have a bigger radius. So it’s a problem for us.
‘In fact, our air defence is having a hard time with [Storm Shadow].
‘It shoots them down, but there’s only a 50 per cent chance of the missiles being shot down.’
He added: ‘Out of four, three have recently reached us.
‘Sometimes two make it. The missile is modern, although it is not the newest, but it is fast enough, it flies properly. I mean, at different speeds, at varying altitudes, changing modes, so it is not easy to shoot down.’
Britain announced the supply of Anglo-French-designed Storm Shadows to Ukraine on May 11, answering a long-time demand from Kyiv for long-range missiles to help defend their territory against Putin’s invading armies.
Storm Shadows have also struck occupied port cities Berdiansk and Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, say reports. And the £2.2million-per-unit missiles were used to target Luhansk in the occupied Donbas.
The GPS-guided ground-hugging missiles with a 450kg warhead have a range of around 155 miles. The missiles allow Ukrainian forces to strike deeper into Russian-held territory than was previously possible.
Storm Shadow is a low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace previously confirmed the missiles had been used by Ukraine on May 18– but declined to give further details.
He said the missiles gave the Ukrainians the ability to strike Russian command and control centres which had been moved further behind the front line to keep them out of range of the rocket artillery systems the West had supplied to Kyiv.
Ukraine is the only country to be publicly supplied with these missiles by the UK.
Russia has admitted that British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles are causing a major problem to Vladimir Putin’s forces. Pictured: An explosion is seen in the occupied port of Berdiansk earlier this month, caused by a Ukrainian attack carried out by a Storm Shadow missile
Ukrainian servicemen of the 30th Kostiantyn Ostrozkyi Separate Mechanized Brigade ride in a T-80 main battle tank captured earlier from Russian troops, along a road near the front line town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 19
A graphic showing how the Storm Shadow Missiles work on the battlefield
Britain also became the first country to provide long-range precision missiles to Ukraine with the delivery.
They were also suspected to have been used this month when Russian MP Viktor Vodolatsky sustained injuries after an attack on May 15.
The missiles were used for the first time operationally by UK forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where they were tested by the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron.
The RAF and the French Air Force have used them against Isis. Britain also used them against Syrian forces in 2018.