Kyiv: Ukraine fired a volley of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia, the latest new Western weapon it has been permitted to use on Russian targets a day after it fired US ATACMS missiles.
The strikes were widely reported by Russian war correspondents on Telegram and confirmed by an official on condition of anonymity.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s general staff said he had no such information at present.
Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to strike into Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation in the conflict.
Kyiv says it needs the capability to defend itself by hitting Russian rear bases used to support Moscow’s invasion, which entered its thousandth day this week.
Russian war correspondent accounts on Telegram posted footage they said included the sound of the missiles striking in Kursk region.
At least 14 huge explosions can be heard, most of them preceded by the sharp whistle of what sounds like an incoming missile.
The footage, shot in a residential area, showed black smoke rising in the distance.
The pro-Russian Two Majors Telegram channel said Ukraine had fired up to 12 Storm Shadows into the Kursk region, and carried pictures of pieces of missile with the name Storm Shadow clearly visible.
Britain had previously allowed Ukraine to use Storm Shadows within Ukrainian territory. The Kyiv government has been pressing Western partners for permission to use such weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia, and obtained the all-clear from U.S. President Joe Biden to use the ATACMS this week, two months before Biden leaves office.
The Storm Shadows have a range in excess of 250 km (155 miles) and would give Ukraine the ability to hit targets far deeper into Russia than before.
With tension higher over the use of the missiles, the United States shut its embassy in Kyiv “out of an abundance of caution” due to what it called the threat of a significant air attack.
