UK to help Ukraine build Storm Shadow long-range missiles: Why it matters
The United Kingdom is set to share classified weapons information with Ukraine to enable it to produce its own version of the Storm Shadow long-range cruise missile, designed jointly with France, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham visits Kyiv on his first foreign trip as the UK’s prime minister. Burnham’s trip on Monday, timed to coincide with Ukraine’s 35th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union, is the latest show of support on the part of the UK and Ukraine’s other European allies at a time when backing from the United States has been erratic, analysts said.
Why It Matters
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Key Facts
- Fact 1: Burnham’s trip on Monday, timed to coincide with Ukraine’s 35th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union, is the latest show of support on the part of the UK and Ukraine’s other European allies at a time when backing from the United States has been erratic, analysts said.
- Fact 2: Also known as SCALP in France, these missiles have a range of about 560km (350 miles) and are capable of hitting targets 240km (150 miles) inside Russian territory.
- Fact 3: This is not as far as Ukraine’s in-house, deep-strike drones, such as the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile, which has a range of 3,000km (1,865 miles).
- Fact 4: One Storm Shadow missile is estimated to cost about $1m to produce, so they are deployed in more carefully calibrated attacks than the flurry of cheap drones that Ukraine already mass-produces.
The United Kingdom is set to share classified weapons information with Ukraine to enable it to produce its own version of the Storm Shadow long-range cruise missile, designed jointly with France, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham visits Kyiv on his first foreign trip as the UK’s prime minister. Burnham’s trip on Monday, timed to coincide with Ukraine’s 35th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union, is the latest show of support on the part of the UK and Ukraine’s other European allies at a time when backing from the United States has been erratic, analysts said.
Russia, Ukraine trade attacks as Putin warns of ‘far more destructive’ hits Putin warns Ukraine has opened ‘Pandora’s box’, rejects peace proposals Zelenskyy says wartime elections could ‘destroy’ Ukraine Burnham described Russia’s war on Ukraine as “four and a half years of Russia’s full-scale invasion … aimed at crushing the independence we are here to celebrate” as he appeared alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a ceremony in Kyiv. “But today and every day, you prove that they have failed.” Burnham is also to co-chair a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, those nations prepared to provide support for war-torn Ukraine. The sharing of top-secret weapons blueprints stands in contrast to US President Donald Trump’s backpedalling last month on a promise to allow Ukraine to manufacture its own version of the US-made Patriot air defence interceptor, which Ukraine says it badly needs to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks.
(Original synthesis pending human/AI review — generated by the stub provider by selecting real sentences from the source material, not by writing new analysis or commentary.)
Original source: Al Jazeera
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