In the UK government clarified that they did not give Ukraine permission to use Storm Shadows for strikes on the territory of Russia, as stated by the Prime Minister of the country Keir Starmer. This UNN reports with reference to The Telegraph.
Downing Street said on Thursday that government policy had "not changed" on the deployment of long-range missiles, despite comments from the Prime Minister suggesting he was relaxing restrictions on missile use.
The British government has reportedly allowed Kiev to launch the missiles at targets in Crimea and mainland Ukraine since they were delivered last year, but has banned the country from using them to hit targets in Russian territory.
Officials are concerned that such a move would escalate the war and could draw Britain into conflict with Russia.
The sources confirmed that the missile had not been used this year and emphasized that Zelensky would have to "seek assurances elsewhere" before Ukraine could launch cruise missiles at Russian territory.
The source added that these assurances have yet to be resolved.
A senior defense source said the situation was "more complicated" than the Ukrainian president had anticipated.
They added that authorization to launch the strategic missile to Russia would require the approval of three countries, one of which is the United Kingdom. France produces Storm Shadow jointly with the UK.
"It won't happen," the source added when asked if Ukraine would launch Storm Shadow missiles at Russian territory.
Context
On July 10, the new uk prime minister, Keir Starmer, said that it was up to ukraine to decide how to use Storm Shadowmissiles, confirming that it would continue the previous government's policy of using long-range weapons to strike military targets on rf territory.
On July 10, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had his first meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. According to him, they talked about the use of Storm Shadow missiles against military facilities on russian territory.