UK PM softens stance on Storm Shadow missiles as US approves deeper strikes on Russia

The United States has lifted its objections to the use of Storm Shadow missiles for strikes deep inside Russia.

British newspaper The Times, citing multiple sources, highlights the shift in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s stance on this issue, per Caliber.Az.

In September 2024, Starmer explicitly ruled out such a move, and in the lead-up to the G20 summit in November, he also declined to comment on whether he would ask US President Joe Biden to approve the use of Storm Shadow missiles by Ukraine for strikes on Russian territory. However, in the wake of the US decision to remove its objections, Starmer reportedly began to soften his position, becoming more open to the idea of using these missiles for deep strikes into Russia.

The Storm Shadow, also known as SCALP-EG, is a long-range, air-launched cruise missile jointly developed by the UK and France. In service since 2001, it has a range of approximately 500 kilometres and can travel at speeds over 1,000 km/h (Mach 0.80). Both the UK and France have been providing Ukraine with these missiles since 2023.

At the same time, Ukraine has also been receiving ATACMS missiles, a surface-to-surface system with a maximum range of 300 kilometres. These missiles, launched from HIMARS or M270 MLRS systems, were officially authorized for transfer to Ukraine by the US in October 2023.

On November 17, Le Figaro reported — without citing sources — that both the UK and France had granted Ukraine permission to use Storm Shadow and its French counterpart, SCALP, for strikes on Russian targets. This came after a New York Times report suggested that Biden had removed restrictions on ATACMS use. However, a day later, Le Figaro retracted this story, and the French Foreign Ministry issued a statement denying any shift in France's position on the matter.

Meanwhile, Le Monde reported that France had a limited stock of SCALP missiles it could provide to Ukraine. However, Paris is reportedly in discussions with Britain, which has a larger supply of these long-range missiles, to explore potential further transfers to Kyiv.

In response to the growing use of Western long-range weapons in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in September that such actions would constitute a direct escalation, signalling that "NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are at war with Russia." 

This rhetoric intensified after a November 18 report by the Russian Ministry of Defence, which claimed that Ukraine had used US-supplied ATACMS missiles to strike a Russian facility in the Bryansk region. According to the Russian Ministry, five of the ATACMS were shot down by Russian missile defence systems, including the S-400 and Pantsir, while another missile was damaged. Fragments of the intercepted missiles allegedly sparked a fire at a military facility, although the Russian Ministry claimed there were "no casualties or damage."

Later, when asked if Ukrainian forces had indeed hit a warehouse in the Bryansk region with US-supplied ATACMS missiles, President Zelenskyy responded: "We have long-range capabilities, we have long-range drones of our own production, we now have a long-range Neptun, and not just one. Now we have ATACMS. We're going to use all of that."

By Tamilla Hasanova