Storm Shadow Missiles Are Boosting Ukraine's Counteroffensive: Zelensky

Volodymyr Zelensky has praised the weapons systems that the United Kingdom gave Kyiv's forces before Ukraine launched its counteroffensive.

The British government said on May 11 that it had donated an undisclosed number of Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine, ahead of the counteroffensive launched this month to recapture occupied Russian territory.

At 150 miles, the missile's range outperforms the weapons systems the U.S. had given Kyiv, such as the HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. The Anglo-French-designed Storm Shadows can make precision strikes against Russian targets that had been previously beyond reach.

Zelensky paid tribute to the missile's capabilities during his nightly address on Monday. He said he had spoken with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about continued U.K. support. Zelensky added that the missiles were doing "a very useful and accurate job at the front," along with "many other weapons supplied by the British."

"This cooperation will have a significant continuation," Zelensky said.

Former British military intelligence officer Philip Ingram told Newsweek that the Storm Shadow missile has a bunker-busting warhead with an element that blows its way through reinforced concrete before the main section explodes, destroying any protected target.

"Their effectiveness is clear in striking protected Russian headquarters, logistic sites and concentrations of Russian troops, where they have felt safe, out of the range of the HIMARS systems," Ingram said.

"By themselves, they won't win the war for Ukraine," Ingram added, "but it is clear they are causing the Russians real problems. Over time, this will help Ukraine's counteroffensive, attacking the Russian rear areas whilst their ground forces attack the forward areas head on."

In announcing more military aid for Kyiv, the British government said this week they had "provided Ukraine with game-changing capability to defend itself from Russian attacks and degrade the capability of invading Russian forces."

The exact number of Storm Shadow missiles given to Kyiv, as well as details about their deployment, are subject to operational security. However, they have reportedly been used to aid Ukraine's operations in recent weeks.

Yevgeny Balitsky is the Moscow-appointed head of the occupied southeastern Zaporizhzhia region. He said last week that the missile "creates problems for us," the Tass news agency reported.

This was because, while Russia has learned to shoot down HIMARS rockets, the Storm Shadow missile "is very tricky, flying at variable speeds, spontaneously changing altitude; it is very hard to shoot down."

It was reported last week that a Storm Shadow strike killed Major-General Sergey Goryachev, in the Zaporizhzhia region and other senior Russian officers. The missile also reportedly hit a Russian military HQ close to Henichesk on the Arabat Spit, near annexed Crimea on June 10.

Russian officials have said that the missile has been used in strikes on the Moscow-occupied cities of Berdiansk, Mariupol, and Luhansk.