Newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has agreed that it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use long-range British Storm Shadow missiles, particularly in the context of strikes against Russia.
This was reported by Bloomberg.
They should be used for defense purposes in accordance with international humanitarian law.
“But it is for Ukraine to decide how to deploy it for those defensive purposes” he said.
This is the first time Starmer has reaffirmed the new government’s commitment to the previous policy since its election victory last week.
Storm Shadows are precision-guided cruise missiles with a range of more than 250 kilometers.
The UK government clarifies that they have not given permission for Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia
Later, The Telegraph writes about this citing their sources in the UK Ministry of Defense, who say that the words of the newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer are an “awkward diplomatic moment”.
The British government has allowed Kyiv to fire missiles against targets in Crimea and mainland Ukraine since they were delivered last year, but has banned the country from using them to hit military targets inside Russia. Officials fear that such a move would escalate the war and could draw the UK into a conflict with Moscow.
The sources emphasized that Volodymyr Zelensky would have to “seek assurances elsewhere” before Ukraine could fire cruise missiles into Russian territory. They added that these assurances were not a done deal.
On July 10, at the NATO summit, Starmer said that Ukraine could use Storm Shadow to attack military targets in the Russian Federation.
Tags: Russia russia ukraine war Ukraine United Kingdom
