The UK is to supply Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, enhancing its capabilities to strike distant targets, including the Crimea bridge.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced in Parliament that the UK has become the first country to supply Ukraine with long-range precision missiles.
Storm Shadow a Game Changer
The Storm Shadow is an air-launched long-range cruise missile developed jointly by the UK and France with stealth capabilities.
It has a firing range of over 250km (155 miles), which falls slightly short of the 185-mile range of the US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) that Ukraine has been requesting for a long time.
The Storm Shadow missile is crucial because it has the range to hit targets deep inside Russian-held territory in Eastern Ukraine.
According to a Western official who spoke to CNN, the UK has been assured by the Ukrainian government that the missiles will be used solely within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia.
Ukrainian forces are preparing to launch a counteroffensive aimed at retaking territory held by the Kremlin in the eastern and southern parts of the country, coinciding with the deployment of long-range Storm Shadow missiles by the UK.
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Strategic Plan
With the deployment of the Storm Shadow missile, Ukrainian armed forces now have the capability to strike targets anywhere in the country, including the Kerch Bridge that connects the annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland.
The bridge is a crucial logistical node in Russian military planning and its loss would deal a major blow to Russia’s armed forces and a significant symbolic defeat to President Putin.
Ukraine’s previous weapon systems had limited range, making it difficult to coordinate a successful attack on the bridge, which is heavily defended by Russian forces.
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