Strikes show UK 'doubling down' on support for Kyiv

Ukraine has fired British long-range Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory for the first time, The Independent understands the latest sign of a change in stance from Western countries on involvement in the conflict.

- DAVID MADDOX ALEX CROFT

Images circulating online appear to show fragments of Storm Shadow missiles in Russia’s Kursk region, the border area where Ukrainian forces staged a surprise assault in August, taking a swathe of territory they still hold.

Approval for the use of the weapons is believed to have been given in response to the deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops in Kursk alongside Russian troops, in what UK and US officials have warned is a major escalation of the war.

On the Telegram messaging app, pro-war Russian accounts posted video they claimed to include the sound of missiles striking in the Kursk region. At least 14 huge explosions can be heard, most 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 missile fragments said to have come from Storm Shadows.

Kyiv has long lobbied for permission to use Storm Shadow missiles in Russia, as it seeks an increase in Western military support to counteract Vladimir Putin’s forces advancing on multiple fronts across Ukraine. And pressure has mounted with the US presidential election victory of Donald Trump, with fears he may cut off military and financial aid to Ukraine when he takes office in January.