Britain's ambassador in Moscow has claimed that Britain is now “directly involved” in the Ukraine war after Kiev used British-made Storm Shadow long-range missiles to attack targets inside Russia.
London quickly followed suit after outgoing US President Joe Biden reportedly decided to allow Ukraine to use US long-range ballistic missiles to attack Russia's interior This week, there were reports that Kiev carried out an attack using a British-made Storm Shadow. During the summer, Ukrainian forces carried out a surprise counter-invasion in Russia's Kursk region.
In response to reports of British missile use against mainland Russia, Kremlin Ambassador Andrei Kerin in London said: said Sky News: “Make no mistake, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom are now directly involved in this war, because this firing could not happen without NATO personnel, without British personnel.”
“The US government, with support from France and the UK, has made a deliberate decision to carry out such an attack. This could seriously escalate the situation and lead to a conflict between the nuclear powers,” he said. added.
The Russian ambassador also claimed that he had received prior assurances from Westminster that Storm Shadow would only be deployed inside Ukraine, and therefore accused London of “deliberately deceiving” Moscow.
In response, Downing Street said the UK “will not be deterred or distracted by commentary from President Vladimir Putin or the Russian ambassador.”
The Russian ambassador's blunt comments came after President Vladimir Putin announced updates to Russia's nuclear doctrine earlier this week. The Kremlin now claims that “any attack” against Russia, including non-nuclear attacks, with the support of other nuclear powers justifies a nuclear response by Russia.
Meanwhile, Russia on Thursday unveiled a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) named Oreshnik, which struck a Ukrainian target in Dnipropetrovsk.
Putin claimed the use of the weapon was justified after Ukraine deployed Britain's Storm Shadow and the United States' ATACMS long-range missiles to attack inside Russia. I'm saying: “Ukraine's regional conflict is acquiring elements of a global character.”
According to Russian state media, the Oreshnik is designed to travel at Mach 10 (12,200 km/h), or about 10 times the speed of sound. Kiev claimed that the missile that hit Dnipro actually reached speeds of Mach 11.
Russia has argued that it is difficult to intercept IRBMs due to their hypersonic capabilities, and President Putin has asserted that “no means in the world exists to counter an Oleshnik-type complex.''
