- The UK Defense Secretary confirmed Britain would send Ukraine Storm Shadow long-range missiles.
- Ukraine has repeatedly asked for weapons to hit Russian positions deep behind the front line.
- The move comes ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive to reclaim occupied territory.
Britain is sending Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, allowing its forces to strike Russian positions deep behind the front line, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday.
The move comes ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive to take back swathes of territory occupied by Russia.
A Western official told CNN that the UK had been given assurances by Ukraine that the missiles would be used only to strike within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not Russia. This could include military targets in Crimea, which UK officials have frequently described as "illegally annexed."
"The UK has previously said that it will supply Ukraine with long-range weapons. This will now include a number of Storm Shadow missiles," a Western official told CNN. "The British government has been clear that this is only in response to Russia's deliberate targeting of civilian national infrastructure and is a proportionate response."
"We will simply not stand by as Russia kills civilians," Wallace told parliament. "Russia must recognize that its actions alone have led to such systems being provided to Ukraine," Reuters reported.
The Kremlin said the move would require "an adequate response from our military," Reuters reported.
The stealthy Storm Shadow is an air-launched long-range cruise missile jointly developed by the UK and France. It has a range of over 250km, or 155 miles, and can be operated in extreme conditions, according to manufacturer MBDA.
The much-admired High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) can hit targets as far as 50 miles away.
Ukraine has long been asking for long-range missiles to bolster its abilities to strike Russian targets deep inside occupied territory, but Western countries have so far limited their support to providing shorter-range weapons.
The US has said it will not send long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems to Kyiv because it has few to spare.
This is not the first time the UK has led the way in sending advanced weaponry to Kyiv. It was the first Western ally to send Ukraine its Challenger 2 tanks, after which the US sent M1 Abrams tanks.
The missile will be "a real game changer from a range perspective," a senior US military official told CNN.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Ukraine needs more time to launch the anticipated counteroffensive as it was still waiting for needed equipment, including armored vehicles, to arrive.