Bloomberg: UK provides Ukraine with additional long-range Storm Shadow missiles

The UK is sending Ukraine more long-range Storm Shadow missiles so it can disrupt Russian military operations targeting its civilian infrastructure before the winter.

Source: Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, as reported by European Pravda

Details: According to the sources, the resupply of the British-made cruise missiles was discussed by UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when the Ukrainian leader visited London on Wednesday 14 October.

The sources noted that the UK considers Ukraine's use of long-range weapons to target Russian sites involved in attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure to be defensive.

They said Russia has ramped up production of jet-powered drones and missiles in recent weeks in order to escalate its attacks on Ukraine, and it is important that Kyiv is able to counter those efforts.

They also noted that the UK does not believe Ukraine should halt its strikes on Russia while Moscow refuses to do the same.

The UK government declined to comment. It hasn't said how many Storm Shadow missiles it has given Ukraine during the war and doesn't regularly announce transfers.

Background:

• It emerged previously that the UK and Ukraine had agreed to speed up the delivery of British air defence systems.
• At the start of the meeting with Zelenskyy, Burnham assured the Ukrainian president that his country's support for Ukraine "will not change". Ahead of the talks, the UK prime minister had pledged that Zelenskyy would not leave London "empty handed".
• It is worth noting that during his visit to Kyiv on 24 August, Burnham announced that the UK would share blueprints for long-range missiles with Kyiv so it could assemble them in Ukraine.

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