UK cruise missiles to Ukraine

 

Confirmed: The Brits have given Ukraine "Storm Shadow" missiles with an approximate 155-mile range, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace told lawmakers at the House of Commons on Thursday—confirming the Washington Post's Monday report from a procurement alert made public last week. The news will likely be unwelcome in Moscow: Ukraine has not previously had missiles that could hit Russian bases in occupied Crimea. 

Wallace also reminded parliamentarians that Russia's invasion has displaced more people than at any time since World War II, creating nearly eight million refugees across Europe and another six million displaced somewhere inside Ukraine. 

Russia's military has attacked Ukrainian clinics and hospitals almost 800 times during its 442-day invasion, Wallace said. Occupying forces have also "stole[n] or destroyed 4.04 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds, valued at $1.9 billion" across Ukrainian farms during and after last year's harvest, he said before elaborating upon nearly a dozen other instances of Russian brutality, violence, and alleged war crimes stemming from Vladimir Putin's invasion. 

"That is why the Prime Minister and I have now taken the decision to provide longer-range capabilities," said Wallace. "Today, I can confirm that the UK has donated Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine," he continued. "Their use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian Sovereign Territory."

"It is my judgment as the Defence Secretary that this is a calibrated proportionate response to Russia's escalations," said Wallace, emphasizing a core principle of international humanitarian law. "The reality is that this is a war of President Putin's own choosing—at the expense of Ukraine's sovereignty and its civilians' lives." Wallace made no mention of an end game, as it were; but he did note repeatedly that the Brits will not stand idly by as the war grinds on amid Russia's "needless destruction and gratuitous violence." 

"The UK stands for values of freedom, the rule of law, human rights, and the protection of civilians," Wallace said. "We will stand side by side with Ukraine, we will continue to support them in defence of their sovereign country."

Expert reax: "This will give Ukraine capability to make Crimea untenable for Russian forces," Ben Hodges—retired three-star and former U.S. Army Europe commander—wrote on Twitter Thursday. Russia's Crimea-based "Black Sea fleet is now faced with the destruction of ships, facilities in Sevastopol or [the] repositioning [of] ships to Novorossiysk," which is on legitimate Russian territory, closer to Georgia—and, according to Hodges, is "a much less capable port for support of the Fleet."

The missile isn't invulnerable, analyst Fabian Hoffman writes. After all, it's a 20-year-old system, he argues. But it does mean that Russian military "command posts, logistical facilities, ammunition depots and other high-value targets outside of HIMARS range are no longer invulnerable," which he adds, "will likely exacerbate Russian planning and logistics."