Britain is supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles

LONDON - Britain said on Thursday it has started supplying Ukraine with

Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles

, which will allow Ukrainian forces to hit Russian troops and supply dumps deep behind the front lines.

Ukraine has been asking for months for long-range missiles, but support provided by Britain and other allies such as the United States has previously been limited to shorter range weapons.

“We will simply not stand by as Russia kills civilians,” Defence Minister Ben Wallace told Parliament.

“Russia must recognise that its actions alone have led to such systems being provided to Ukraine.”

Mr Wallace said Britain was supplying the weapons to Ukraine, so they could be used within its sovereign territory, implying he has received assurances from Ukraine that they will not be used to target inside Russia.

The missiles “are now going into, or are in, the country itself”, he said.

The Kremlin earlier said that if Britain provided these missiles, it would require “an adequate response from our military”.

Britain and other Western countries have

increased their military aid

for Ukraine in 2023.

Mr Wallace and Foreign Minister James Cleverly have been in the US for talks on supporting Ukraine in recent weeks.

Kyiv is expected to unleash a counteroffensive soon, after six months of keeping its forces on the defensive.

Russia mounted a huge winter offensive that failed to capture significant territory.

Tanks and pilot training

After the US, Britain has been the second-largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine, contributing £2.3 billion (S$3.8 billion) worth of support in 2022.

Although this is well below what the US has provided, Britain has in the past been the first country to supply more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine.

Britain sent the first shoulder-launched anti-air and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in the run-up to the invasion and in February announced it would be the first country to begin training Ukrainian pilots on Nato fighter jets.

In January, Britain said it would send 14 of its main Challenger 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, a pledge that was followed by other nations including the US and Germany.

Last week, a British-led group of European countries asked companies for expressions of interest to supply Ukraine with missiles with a range of up to 300km, but Britain said on Tuesday that no final decision had been taken on supplying the weapons.

Storm Shadow, manufactured by European missile maker MBDA, is an air-launched long-range missile, designed for attacks against high value targets such as hardened bunkers and key infrastructure, according to the company’s website.

They have a range of more than 250km, according to the manufacturer.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the Munich Security Conference in February that Britain would be the first country to provide Ukraine with longer range weapons.

The US said in February it would provide the ground-launched small diameter bomb, which has a range of about 151km. REUTERS