Ukraine has been given the go-ahead to use long-range Storm Shadow/Scalp air-launched cruise missiles against Russian airfields launching attacks against it, according to a BBC source.
Last month, Russia launched a new ground assault on northern Kharkiv Oblast across the border, capturing several villages and posing a serious threat to Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, while continuing aerial bombings and missile strikes on the city.
The UK and France, which jointly produce these missiles, have not explicitly restricted their use by Ukraine. The missiles have a range of up to 250km.
An anonymous military aviation officer told the BBC that Ukraine can now hit airfields in the Kursk and Belgorod oblasts of Russia that border Ukraine.
However, such operations will face limitations due to the capabilities of Ukraine’s current Su-24 jets equipped with these cruise missiles. The jets will have to get close to the Russian border to launch the missiles, making them vulnerable to Russian air defenses. The expected arrival of F-16 jets this year could better equip Ukraine for such tasks.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated last week,
“We should allow [Ukraine] to neutralize the military sites from which the missiles are fired and, basically, the military sites from which Ukraine is attacked.”
In early May, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron endorsed Ukrainian strikes within Russia using British weapons.
Read also:
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- France begins delivery of “significant number” of SCALP missiles to Ukraine – AFP
