The UK is sending long-range missiles to Ukraine, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has confirmed.
The Minister said that Storm Shadows missiles will be supplied to Ukraineis military.
Sky News understands some of the missiles are already in Ukraine – Mr Wallace said the projectiles “now go or are in the country itself”.
Ukraine has long demanded such weapons, but the United States and other countries have refused to provide them in case strikes inside Russia lead to escalation.
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Storm Shadow is a long-range air-launched cruise missile developed by British Aerospace and a French company, which carries a 450 kg conventional warhead over a range of up to 200 miles (300 km).
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Wallace said: ‘The donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend itself against Russia’s continued brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of infrastructure Ukrainian civilians, which is contrary to international law.
“Ukraine has the right to be able to defend itself against this.”
He added that the missiles would be intended for use “on Ukrainian sovereign territory”.
Missiles launched in Russia would increase the likelihood of a greater Russian response.
Responding to reports that the deal had been reached, Moscow said the move would require an “adequate response from our military.”
Mr Wallace said he would not give detailed details of Storm Shadow’s capabilities – but said: ‘These weapons will give Ukraine new capabilities, members should recognize that these systems are not even in the same league as the Russian killjoy AS-24 hypersonic missile”, or even “the Kalibr cruise missile with a range of more than 2,000 kilometers, or about seven times that of a Storm Shadow missile”.
In his speech, the Defense Secretary laid out some of the ways Russia had attacked Ukraine – including allegations that it used white phosphorus.
He said the use of such weapons – “which burn at 800°C” – is contrary to “Protocol 3 of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons”.
